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©ccisite <£x)cnts in American ijiatora 

BuRGOYNE's Invasion 
OF 1777 



WITH AN 

OUTLINE SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN INVASION 
OF CANADA, 1775-76 

BY / 

SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE 




BOSTON 1889 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 

10 MILK STREET NEXT "OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE" 

NEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM 

71S AND 720 BROADWAY 



CorV RIGHT, 1889, 

BY 

LlilC AND ShEPARD. 



BOSTON 
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Printers 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction 9 

PRELUDE. 

I. The Invasion of Canada 15 

II. The Invasion of Canada 19 

BURGOYNE'S INVASION. 

I. The Plan of Campaign 27 

II. Burgoyne's Army . , . . . 33 

III. The Fall of Ticonderoga 37 

IV. Hubbardton 45 

V. Facing Disaster 56 

VI. The March to Fort Edward 6i- 

VII. Before Bennington 68 

VIII. Battle of Bennington 77 

IX. After Bennington , . . 87 

X. St. Leger's Expedition 90 

XI. Our Army Advances 95 

XII. Battle of Bemis' Heights loi 

XIII. Lincoln's Raid in Burgoyne's Rear .... 113 

XIV. Second Battle of Freeman's Farm .... 116 
XV. Retreat and Surrender 126 

XVI. Seventeenth of October, 1777 137 

XVII. Consequences of Defeat 143 

5 



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MILITARY MAP, LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 



INTRODUCTION 



Among the decisive events of the Revolutionary strug- 
gle, Burgoyne's campaign deservedly holds the foremost 
place, as well for what it led to, as for what it was in 
inception and execution — at once the most daring, most 
quixotic, and most disastrous effort of the whole war. 

Burgoyne was himself, in some respects, so remark- 
able a man that any picture of his exploits must needs 
be more or less tinted with his personality. And this 
was- unusually picturesque and imposing. Reacquired 
prestige, at a time when other generals were losing it, 
through his participation in Carleton's successful cam- 
paign. But Burgoyne was something more than the 
professional soldier. His nature was poetic ; his 
temperament imaginative. He did nothing in a com- 
monplace way. Even his orders are far more schol- 
arly than soldier-like. At one time he tells his soldiers 
that "occasions may occur, when ilor difficulty, nor 
labor, nor life are to be regarded" — as if soldiers, in 
general, expected anything else than to be shot at ! — 
at another, we find him preaching humanity to Indians, 
repentance to rebels, or better manners to his adver- 
sary, with all the superb self-consciousness that was 
Burgoyne's most prominent characteristic. 

To the military critic, Burgoyne's campaign is instruc- 

9 



10 INTRODUCTION 

tive, because it embodies, in itself, about all the opera- 
tions known to active warfare. It was destined to 
great things, but collapsed, like a bubble, with the first 
shock of an adverse fortune. 

This campaign is remarkable in yet another way. It 
has given us the most voluminous literature extant, 
that treats of any single episode of the Revolutionary 
War. In general, it takes many more words to explain 
a defeat than to describe a victory. Hence this ful- 
ness is much more conspicuous upon the British than 
upon the American side of the history of this campaign. 
Not only the general, who had his reputation to defend, 
but high officials, whose guiding hand was seeji behind 
the curtain, were called to the bar of public opinion. 
The ministers endeavored to make a scapegoat of the 
general ; the general, to fix the responsibility for defeat 
upon the ministers. His demand for a court-martial 
was denied. His sovereign refused to hear him. It 
was thus meanly attempted to turn the torrent of popu- 
lar indignation, arising from the ill success of the ex- 
pedition, wholly upon the unlucky general's head. 
Burgoyne's heroic persistency at length brought the 
British nation face to face with the unwelcome fact, 
which the ministers were so desirous of concealing, — 
that somebody besides the general had blundered ; and 
if the inquiry that Burgoyne obtained from Parliament 
failed to vindicate him as a captain, it nevertheless did 
good service by exposing both the shortcomings of his 
accusers, and the motives which had guided their con- 
duct with respect to himself. 



INTR on UC TION 1 1 

Besides the official examination by the House of Com- 
mons, we have several excellent narratives, written by 
officers who served with Burgoyne, all of which materi- 
ally contribute to an intelligent study of the campaign, 
from a purely military point of view. These narratives 
are really histories of the several corps to which the 
writers belonged, rather than capable surveys of the 
whole situation ; but they give us the current gossip of 
the camp-fire and mess-table, spiced with anecdote, and 
enlivened with the daily experiences through which the 
writers were passing. And this is much. 

In his defence. General Burgoyne vigorously ad- 
dresses himself to the four principal charges brought 
forward by his accusers : namely, first, of encumbering 
himself with a needless amount of artillery ; secondly, 
of taking the Fort Anne route, rather than the one by 
way of Lake George ; thirdly, of sending off an expedi- 
tion to Bennington, under conditions inviting defeat ; 
and, lastly, of crossing the Hudson after the disasters 
of Bennington and Fort Stanwix had taken place. 

The real criticism upon Burgoyne's conduct, so far 
as it relates to the movement of his forces only, seems 
to be that from the moment when the march was actu- 
ally to begin, he found himself in want of everything 
necessary to a rapid advance. Thus, we find him 
scarcely arrived at Skenesborough before he is ask- 
ing. Sir Guy Carleton for reenforcements to garrison 
Ticonderoga and Fort George with, to the end that his 
own force might not be weakened by the detachments 
required to hold those fortresses against the Ameri- 



12 INTRODUCTION 

cans, when he should move on. It would seem that 
this contingency, at least, might have been foreseen 
before it forced itself upon Burgo3^ne's attention. Yet 
it was of so serious a nature, in this general's eyes, that 
he expresses a doubt whether his army would be found 
equal to the task before it, unless Carleton would as- 
sume the defence of the forts referred to above. 

At this time, too, the inadequacy of his transporta- 
tion service became so painfully evident, that the 
expedition to Bennington oifeied the only practicable 
solution to Burgoyne's mind. 

These circumstances stamp the purposed invasion 
with a certain haphazard character at the outset, which 
boded no good to it in the future. 

Carleton having declined to use his troops in the 
manner suggested, Burgoyne was compelled to leave a 
thousand men behind him when he marched for Albany. 
Carleton, the saviour of Canada, was justly chagrined 
at finding himself superseded in the conduct of this 
campaign, by an officer who had served under his 
orders in the preceding one ; and, though he seems to 
have acted with loyalty toward Burgoyne, this is by no 
means the only instance known in which one general 
has refused to go beyond the strict letter of his instruc- 
tions for the purpose of rescuing a rival from a dilemma 
into which he had plunged with his eyes wide open. 

The Prelude with which our narrative opens, under- 
takes first, to briefly outline the history of the Northern 
Army, which finally brought victory out of defeat; and 
next, to render familiar the names, location, and strate- 



IN TROD UC TION 1 3 

gic value of the frontier fortresses, before beginning the 
story of the campaign itself. 

Few armies have ever suffered more, or more nobly 
redeemed an apparently lost cause, than the one which 
was defeated at Quebec and victorious at Saratoga. 
The train of misfortunes which brought Burgoyne's 
erratic course to so untimely an end was nothing by 
comparison. And the quickness Vv'ith which raw 
yeomanry were formed into armies capable of fighting 
veteran troops, affords the strongest proof that the 
Americans are a nation of soldiers. 

So many specific causes have been assigned for 
Burgoyne's failure, that it is hardly practicable to discuss 
all of them within reasonable limits. The simplest 
statement of the whole case is that he allowed himself 
to be beaten in detail. It seems plain enough that any 
plan, which exposed his forces to this result, was neces- 
sarily vicious in itself. Moreover, Burgoyne wofully 
misestimated the resources, spirit, and fighting capacity 
of his adversary. With our forces strongly posted on 
the Mohawk, St. Leger's advance down the valley was 
clearly impracticable. Yet such a combination of 
movements as would bring about a junction of the two 
invading columns, at this point, was all essential to the 
success of Burgoyne's campaign. To have effected 
this in season, Burgoyne should have made a rapid 
march to the Mohawk, intrenched himself there, and 
operated in conjunction with St. Leger. His delays, 
attributable first, to his unwise choice of the Fort Anne 
route, next, to Schuyler's activity in obstructing it, and 



1 4 INTR OD UC TION 

lastly, to his defeat at Bennington, gave time to render 
our army so greatly superior to his own, that the condi- 
tions were wholly altered when the final trial of strength 
came to be made. 

What might have happened if Sir W. Howe had 
moved his large army and fleet up the Hudson, in due 
season, is quite another matter. The writer does i^ot 
care to discuss futilities. In the first place, he thinks 
that Burgoyne's campaign should stand or fall on its 
own merits. In the next, such a movement by Howe 
would have left Washington free to act in the enemy's 
rear, or upon his flanks, with a fair prospect of cutting 
him off from his base at New York. Of the two com- 
manders-in-chief, Washington acted most effectively in 
reenforcing Gates's army from his own. Howe could 
not and Carleton would not do this. From the moment 
that Burgoyne crossed the Hudson, he seems to have 
pinned his faith to chance ; but if chance has sometimes 
saved poor generalship, the general who commits himself 
to its guidance, does so with full knowledge that he is cast- 
ing his reputation on the hazard of a die. As Burgoyne 
did just this, he must be set down, we think, notwithstand- 
ing his chivalrous defence of himself, as the conspicuous 
failure of the war. And we assume that the importance 
which his campaign implied to Europe and America, 
more than any high order of ability in the general him- 
self, has lifted Burgoyne into undeserved prominence. 



PRELUDE 



I. 

THE INVASION OF CANADA, 1 775. 

England took Canada from France in 1759, and 
soon after annexed it to her own dominions. Twelve 
years later, her despotic acts drove her Amer- Canada's 
ican colonies into open rebellion. England attitude, 
feared, and the colonies hoped, Canada would join in 
the revolt against her. But, though they did not love 
their new masters, prudence counselled the Cana- 
dians to stand aloof, at least till the Americans had 
proved their ability to make head against the might of 
England. 

That England would be much distressed by Canada's 
taking sides with the Americans was plain enough to 
all men, for the whole continent would then be one in 
purpose, and the conflict more equal ; but the Ameri- 
cans also greatly wished it because all New England 
and New York lay open to invasion from Canada. 

Nature had created a great highway, stretching 
southward from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson, 
over which rival armies had often passed to victory or 
defeat in the old wars. Open water offered an easy 
transit for nearly the whole way. A chain of forts ex- 



I 6 PRELUDE 

tended throughout its whole length. Chambly and 
St. Johri's defended the passage of the Richelieu, 
through which the waters of Lake Champlain flow to 
the St. Lawrence. Crown Point ^ and Ticonderoga ^ 
blocked the passage of this lake in its narrowest part. 
Ticonderoga, indeed, is placed just where the outlet of 
Lake George falls down a mountain gorge into Lake 
Champlain. Its cannon, therefore, commanded that 
outlet also. Fort George stood at the head of Lake 
George, within sixteen miles of Fort Edward, on the 
Hudson. These were the gates through which a hostile 
army might sally forth upon our naked frontier. Much, 
therefore, depended on whether they were to be kept 
by friend or foe. 

In natural and artificial strength, Ticonderoga was 
by far the most important of these fortresses. At this 

Ticon- place the opposite shores of New York and 

deroga. Vermont are pushed out into the lake tow^ard 
each other, thus forming two peninsulas, witli the lake 
contracted to a width of half a mile, or point-blank 
cannon range, between them: one is Ticonderoga; 
the other, Mount Independence. Thus, together, they 
command the passage of the two lakes. 

Ticonderoga itself is a tongue-shaped projection of 
quite uneven land, broad and high at the base, or 
where it joins the hills behind it, but growing narrower 
as it descends over intervening hollows or swells to its 
farthest point in the lake. That part next the main- 
land is a wooded height, having a broad plateau on 
the brow — large enough to encamp an army corps 



PRELUDE ly 

upon — but cut down abruptly on the sides washed by 
the lake. This height, therefore, commanded the whole 
peninsula lying before it, and underneath it, as well as 
the approach from Lake George, opening behind it in 
a rugged mountain pass, since it must be either crossed 
or turned before access to the peninsula could be 
gained. Except for the higher hills surrounding it, 
this one is, in every respect, an admirable military 
position. 

The French, who built the first fortress here, had cov- 
ered all the low ground next the lake with batteries and 
intrenchments, but had left the heights rising behind it 
unguarded, until Abercromby attacked on that side in 
1758. They then hastily threw up a rude intrench- 
ment of logs, extending quite across the crest in its 
broadest part. Yet, in spite of the victory he then 
obtained, Montcalm was so fully convinced that Ticon- 
deroga could not stand a siege, that he made no secret 
of calling it a trap, for some honest man to disgrace 
himself in.^ 

Ticonderoga, however, was henceforth looked upon 
as a sort of Gibraltar. People, therefore, were filled 
with wonder when they heard how Ethan Allen had 
surprised and taken it on the 9th of May, 1775, with 
only a handful of men ; how Seth Warner had also 
taken Crown Point ; and how Skenesborough * and Fort 
George, being thus cut off from Canada, had also 
fallen into our hands without firins" a shot ^ 

Thus, in the very beginning of the war for independ- 
ence, and at one bold stroke, we regained possession of 



I 8 PRELUDE 

this gateway of the north; or in military phrase, we 
now held all the strategic points by which an advance 
from Lower Canada upon the United Colonies was 
possible. 

1 Crown Point, built by the French in 1731, greatly strength- 
ened by the British, who took it in 1759. 

2 TicoNDEROGA, familiarly called " Ty " because the early spell- 
ing of the name was Tyconderoga. Built 1755-56 by the French, 
taken 1759 by the British, under Amherst. Three weeks before 
the battle of Lexington, an agent of Massachusetts was sent to 
ascertain the feelings of the people of Canada. His first advice 
was that "Ty" should be seized as quickly as possible. 

3 Montcalm's Prophecy came true in St. Clair's case in 1777. 

4 Skenesborough, now Whitehall, named for Philip Skene, a 
retired British officer, who settled on lands granted him after the 
French War. He had about fifty tenants, and a few negro slaves. 

5 The Captured Artillery was taken to Cambridge on 
sleds in midwinter, by Colonel Knox. It enabled Washington 
to bring the siege of Boston to a favorable conclusion. 



II. 

THE INVASION OF CANADA. 

The prompt seizure of the lake fortresses had a 
marked effect upon the wavering Canadians.-^ Many 
joined us. More stood ready to do so whenever the 
signal for revolt should be given. Success begets con- 
fidence. The Americans were now led to 
believe that by throwing an army into Can- "canada.° 
ada at once, the people would no longer 
hesitate to free themselves from the British yoke. The 
time seemed the riper for it, because it was known that 
the strong places of Canada were but weakly guarded. 
Could Quebec and Montreal be taken, British power in 
Canada would be at an end. 

With such promise held out before it, Congress re- 
solved to make the attempt. Forces were ordered to 
both places. One body, under General Montgomery,^ 
mustered at Ticonderoga. Ethan Allen went before 
it to rouse the Canadians, who were expected to receive 
the Americans with open arms. This army moved down 
the lake in October, taking St. John's and Chambly in 
its way, and Montreal a little later. The other, led by 
Colonel Arnold,^ ascended the Kennebec to its head, 
crossed over to the Chaudiere, which was followed to 
the St. Lawrence, and came before Quebec at about the 

19 



20 PR EL UDE 

same time Montgomery entered Montreal. Montgomery 
hastened to Arnold with a handful of men. Together 
they assaulted Quebec on the morning of December 31. 
The attack fail,,/., and Montgomery fell. The Ameri- 
Ourarmy cans lay before Quebec till spring, when the 
retreats, arrival of fresh troops, for the enemy, forced 
ours to retreat to Montreal. This, too, was abandoned. 
Our army then fell back toward Lake Champlain, set- 
ting fire to Chambly, and St. John's behind it. The 
enemy followed close, recapturing these places as our 
troops left them. Very little fighting took place, but 
the Americans were greatly disheartened by having con- 
stantly to retreat, and by the loss of many brave 
officers and men, who fell sick and died of the small- 
pox. July I the army finally reached Crown 
1776. 

Point, ragged, sickly, and destitute of every- 
thing. Weakened by the loss of five thousand men 
and three commanders, it was no longer able to keep 
the field. Instead of conquering Canada, it had been 
driven out at the point of the bayonet. The great 
question now was, whether this army could hold its own 
against a victorious and advancing enemy. 

General Gates ^ took command of the army at this 
critical time. Convinced that he could never hope to 
hold both Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and knowing 
Ticonderoga to be much the stronger, in a military 
view, he decided to remove the army to that place at 
once. This was promptly done.^ The soldiers were 
set to work strengthening the old, or building new, 
works, under the direction of skilful engineers. Of 



PRELUDE 21 

these new works the strongest, as well as most im- 
portant, because they commanded Ticonderoga itself, 
were those raised on the peninsula opposite the fortress 
on the Vermont side, which was christened Mount In- 
dependence on the day the army heard that the colonies 
had declared themselves free and independent. 

Having thrown a bridge across the strait, between 
Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, the Americans 
waited for the enemy to come and attack them, for 
with such leaders as Gates and Stark they felt confi- 
dent of gaining the victory. 

The British were equally active on their side. After 
driving the Americans from Canada, they next deter- 
mined to make themselves masters of Lake Champlain, 
recover the forts they had lost, and so gain a foothold 
for striking a blow at our northern colonies. 

For this purpose they set about building a fleet at 
St. John's. Vessels were sent out from England, for 
the purpose, which were taken to pieces below the 
Chambly rapids, brought across the portage, and put 
together again at St. John's. By working diligently, the 
British got their fleet ready to sail early in October. 

Well knowing the importance of keeping possession 
of the lake, the Americans turned Skenesborough into 
a dockyard, and were straining every nerve to get 
ready a fleet strong enough to cope with the British. 
As everything needed for equipping it had to be 
brought from the sea-coast, the British had much the 
advantage in this respect, yet all labored with so much 
zeal, that our fleet was first ready for action. Gates 



22 PRELUDE 

gave the command of it to Arnold, who had once been 
a sailor, and whose courage had been tried so signally 
under the walls of Quebec. 

By the middle of August, Ticonderoga was in fight- 
ing trim. The enemy's delays had given time to make 
the defences so strong that an attack was rather hoped 
for than feared. Ignorant of the great preparations 
making at St. John's, the Americans also believed 
themselves strongest on the lake. Our fleet, therefore, 
went forward with confidence to the battle. 

On the nth of October the British flotilla was seen 
coming up the lake. The rival forces met at Valcour 
Island, and the battle began. From noon till night the 
combatants hurled broadsides at each other without 

Naval ceasing. The British then drew off to repair 

battle, damages, meaning to renew the fight in the 
Octo em. j^Qj-j^jj-jg 'W\\s gave Arnold a chance to slip 
through them unperceived, for his vessels were so 
badly shattered that all hope of gaining the victory 
was given over. He was pursued and overtaken. 
Near Crown Point the battle began again, but the 
enemy's superior forces soon decided it in his favor. 
Rather than surrender, Arnold ran his disabled vessels 
on shore, set fire to them, and with his men escaped to 
the woods. 

Having thus cleared the lake, the British commander, 
Guy Carleton,® sailed back to St. John's, leaving Ticon- 
deroga unmolested behind him, to the great astonish- 
ment of our soldiers, who said Carleton deserved to be 
hanged for not following up his victory over Arnold. 



,1 



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ry a a 



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ID 

ll 




NAVAL BATTLE, LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 

A, American flotilla, B-C, British. D, Line of Retreat, when the British 
wero forced back to E. 



PRELUDE 25 

1 The Wavering Canadians. The Massachusetts revolution- 
ary authority had been at work upon the wavering Canadians 
since 1774, with only partial success. (See note 2, preceding 
chapter.) The Americans thought the Canadians would seize the 
opportunity of freeing themselves, but events proved this opinion 
ill-grounded. A political connection between the Protestants of 
New England and the Catholics of Canada, except for mutual de- 
fence, could hardly be lasting, nor did the priests favor it. The 
military advantages were equally questionable, though great stress 
was laid upon them by Washington and Schuyler, even after the 
allegiance of the Canadians had been confirmed to the British 
side by the reverses our arms sustained. If we had conquered 
Canada, it would doubtless have been handed over to France again 
at the close of the war. 

2 General Richard Montgomery, of Irish birth, had served 
under Amherst at the taking of Crown Point and Ticonderoga in 
1759, settled in New York, been one of eight brigadiers created by 
Congress in June, 1775; General Schuyler's illness threw the chief 
command, for which he proved himself eminently fitted, on Mont- 
gomery. His having served on this line was much in his favor. 

^ Colonel Benedict Arnold had once been a soldier at Ticon- 
deroga. He went there again with a commission from Massachu- 
setts, when the fortress was taken by Allen. He had also spent 
some time in Quebec. These facts had influence in procuring for 
him a command in the invading expedition. 

* General Horatio Gates, a retired British major, settled in 
Virginia, was made adjutant-general of the army, June, 1775. 

^ The Removal of the Army from Crown Point to Ticon- 
deroga was strongly opposed by Stark and others, and disap- 
proved by Washington. 

^ Guy Carleton, British governor of Canada, though driven 
from Montreal by Montgomery, had successfully defended Quebec 
against him. He reconnoitred Ticonderoga, but seems to have 
thought it too strong to be attacked with his force. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 



I. 

THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. 

After the British had gone back to Canada, it was 
thought they would return as soon as the lake should be 
frozen hard enough to bear artillery. But when it was 
found that they had gone into winter quarters, and the 
danger was past, part of the garrison of Ticonderoga 
was hurried off to Washington, who was then fighting 
against great odds in the Jerseys. This winter was the 
dark hour of the Revolution, upon which the victory at 
Trenton ^ shed the first ray of light. So low had the 
American cause fallen at this time, that, but for this 
unlooked-for success, it is doubtful if another army 
could have been brought into the field. 

The British were really planning to invade New 
York as soon as the lakes should be open again, in the 
spring. For this campaign great preparations were 
making, both in Canada and England. Quiet, there- 
fore, reigned at Ticonderoga throughout the winter of 
1776 and 1777. 

General Burgoyne sailed for England in November, 
to lay before the king a plan for subduing the colonies 
in a single campaign. Burgoyne was a good soldier, 

27 



28 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

popular with the army and government, brave to rash- 
ness, but vain and headstrong. He knew the Ameri- 
cans were not to be despised, for he had seen them 
fight at Bunker Hill, as well as in the campaign just 
closed, in which he himself had taken part ; yet an 
easy confidence in his own abilities led Burgoyne into 
committing many grave errors, not the least of which 
was underestimating this very enemy. ^ 

Any plan that promised to put down the Americans, 
was sure of gaining the king's ear. Justice was never 
tempered with mercy in this monarch's treatment of 
his rebellious subjects. His heart was hardened, his 
hand ever ready to strike them the fatal blow. More- 
over, the Americans had just now declared themselves 
independent of Great Britain. They had crossed their 
Rubicon. To crush them with iron hand was now the 
king's one thought and purpose. No half 

George III. * o r r 

wants the mcasurcs would do for him. He told his 
war ministers, in so many words, that every means 
^"^ ^ ' of distressing the Americans would meet with 
his approval. Mercenaries, savages, refugees — all who 
could fire a shot, or burn a dwelling, were to be enrolled 
under the proud old banner of the isles. No more effect- 
ual means could have been devised to arouse the spirit 
of resistance to the highest pitch. 

Burgoyne's ambition was kindled by the hope of 
making himself the hero of the war. He combined the 
qualities of general and statesman without being great 
as either. He wrote and talked well, was eloquent 
and persuasive, had friends at court, and knew how to 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 29 

make the most of his opportunity. On his part, the 
king wanted a general badly. He had been grievously 
disappointed in Sir William Howe, whose victories 
seemed never bringing the war any nearer to an end. 
Burgoyne brought forward his plan at the right mo- 
ment, shrewdly touched the keynote of the king's 
discontent by declaring for aggressive war, smoothed 
every obstacle away with easy assurance, and so im- 
pressed the ministers with his capacity, that they 
believed they had found the very man the king wanted 
for the work in hand. 

The plan proposed for making short work of the war 
was briefly this : The American colonies were to be 
divided in two parts, by seizing the line of the Hudson 
River ; just as in later times, the Union armies aimed 
to split the Southern Confederacy in two by getting 
possession of the Mississippi. To effect this, two 
armies were to act together. With one, Burgoyne was 
to come down the lakes from Canada, and force his 
way to Albany, while the other was coming up the 
Hudson to join him. Once these armies were united, 
with full control of the Hudson in their hands. New 
England would be cut off from the other colonies by 
forts and fleets, and the way laid open to crush out 
rebellion in what was admitted to be its cradle and 
stronghold. 

Ever since Sir William Howe had been driven from 
Boston, in the spring of 1776, the opinion prevailed 
among American generals that, sooner or later, New 
England would become the battle-ground.^ This view 



30 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

was sustained by the enemy's seizure of Newport, in 
December of the same year, so that the Americans 
were perplexed at finding themselves threatened from 
this quarter, until the enemy's plans were fully de- 
veloped. 

There was yet another part to the plan concerted 
between Burgoyne and the British cabinet. It was 
seen that in proportion as Burgoyne moved down 
toward Albany, he would have the fertile Mohawk 
valley on his right. This valley was the great 
thoroughfare between the Hudson and Lake Ontario, 
Niagara, and Detroit. In it were many prosperous 
settlements, inhabited by a vigorous yeomanry, who 
were the mainstay of the patriot cause in this quarter. 
The passage to and fro was guarded by Fort Stanwix, 
which stood where Rome now is, and Fort Oswego, 
which was situated at the lake. Fort Stanwix was held 
by the Americans, and Oswego, by the British. Perceiv- 
ing its value to the Americans not only as a granary, 
St. Leger's but as a recruiting station, and in view of the 

P^""*- danger of leaving it on his flank, Burgoyne de- 
cided to march a force through this valley, clear it of ene- 
mies, and so effectively bring about a timely cooperation 
between the two branches of the expedition. Freed 
of fear for himself, he could materially aid in the work 
intrusted to his auxiliary. It followed that the Ameri- 
cans, with whom Burgoyne himself might be contend- 
ing, would, of necessity, be greatly distressed by their 
inability to draw either men or supplies from the Mo- 
hawk Valley, no less than by the appearance of this 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 31 

force upon their own flank. The command of it was 
given to Colonel St. Leger, who was ordered to pro- 
ceed up the St. Lawrence to Oswego, and from thence 
to Fort Stanwix and Albany. 

It must be allowed that this plan was well conceived; 
yet its success depended so much upon all the parts 
working in harmony together, that to have set it in 
motion, without consultation or clear understanding 
between the generals who were to execute it, is incon- 
ceivable. At a distance of three thousand miles from 
the scene of war, the British cabinet undertook to 
direct complicated military operations, in which widely 
separated armies were to take part. General Burgoyne 
received his orders on the spot. General Howe did 
not receive his until the i6th of August ; his army 
was then entering Chesapeake Bay. Burgoyne was 
being defeated at Bennington, at the time Howe was 
reading his despatch, and learning from it what he 
had not known before ; namely, that he was expected 
to cooperate with the army of Burgoyne. These facts 
will so sufficiently illustrate the course that events were 
takino^, as to foreshadow their conclusion to the feeblest 
understanding. 

In order to make the war more terrible to the Amer- 
icans, the British cabinet decided to use the Indians of 
Canada, and the Great Lakes, against them. Not even 
the plea of military necessity could reconcile some 
Englishmen to letting loose these barbarians upon the 
colonists. Though enemies, they were men. Lord 
Chatham, the noblest Englishman of them all, cried 



22 BUR COYNE'S INVASION 

out against it in Parliament. " Who is the man," he 
indignantly asked, " who has dared to associate to our 
arms the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the savage ? " 
All knew he meant the prime minister, and, behind him, 
the king himself. Had not King George just said that 
any means of distressing the Americans must meet 
with his approval ? 

1 Victory at Trenton. After being driven from the Jerseys, 
Washington suddenly turned on his pursuers, and by the two fine 
combats of Trenton and Princeton, compelled much superior forces 
everywhere to retreat before him, thus breaking up all the enemy's 
l)lans for the ensuing campaign, saving Philadelphia, and putting 
new life into the American cause. 

- Underestimating his Enemy. Burgoyne candidly admits 
as much in his letter to Lord G. Germaine. State of the Expedi- 
tion, Appendix, xcii. 

3 New England the Battle-Ground. v'^ir William Howe 
did propose, at first, operating against Boston from Rhode Island, 
with ten thousand men, while an equal force should effect a junc- 
tion with the army of Canada, by way of the Hudson. This pur- 
pose he subsequently deferred for ail advance into Pennsylvania, 
but Burgoyne asserts that he was not informed of the change of 
plan when he sailed for Canada in April ; and, though Sir William 
Howe afterward wrote him to the same effect (July 17th) a letter 
which was received early in August, Burgoyne, nevertheless, per- 
sisted in his intention of passing the Hudson, notwithstanding he 
knew, and says (August 20th), that no operation ha<l yet been 
undertaken in his favor. State of the Expedition, 188, 189; Appen- 
dix, xlvii. 



II. 

burgoyne's army. 

Having thus outlined the plan of invasion, let us now 
look at the means allotted for its execution. There 
were in Canada ten thousand British soldiers ; in New 
York, thirty thousand. Burgoyne was to take with him 
seven thousand, of whom three thousand were Germans 
in the pay of England.^ In discipline, spirit, and equip- 
ment, this was by far the best little army that had yet 
taken the field in America. 

Good judges said that England might be searched 
through and through before such battalions could be 
raised. Forty cannon, splendidly served and equipped, 
formed its artillery train. All the generals, and most 
of the soldiers, were veterans. In short, nothing that 
experience could suggest, or unlimited means provide, 
was omitted to make this army invincible. . It was one 
with which Burgoyne felt he could do anything, and 
dare everything. 

Besides these regular troops, we have said the gov- 
ernment had authorized and even attempted to justify 
to the world, the employment of Indians. Four hun- 
dred warriors joined the army when it marched, and as 
many more when it reached Lake Champlain. They 
were to scour the woods, hang like a storm cloud about 

33 



34 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 



the enemy's camps, and discover his every movement. 
For this service they had no equals. In the woods 
they could steal upon an enemy unawares, or lie in 
wait for his approach. In the field they were of little 
use. Much of the terror they inspired came from the 
suddenness of their onset, their hideous looks and 
unearthly war-cries, and their cruel practice of scalping 
the wounded. 

To these were added about an equal number of 
Canadians, and American refugees, who were designed 
to act as scouts, skirmishers, or foragers, as the occa- 
sion might require. Being well skilled in bush-fighting, 
they were mostly attached to Frazer's corps, for the 
purpose of clearing the woods in his front, getting 
information, or driving in cattle. With his Indians and 
irregulars,^ Burgoyne's whole force could hardly have 
numbered less than ten thousand men. 

Taken as a whole, this army was justly thought the 
equal of twice its own number of raw yeomanry, sud- 
denly called to the field from the anvil, the workshop, 
or the plough. Its strongest arm was its artillery ; its 
weakest, its Indian allies. 

Burgoyne divided his force into three corps, com- 
manded by Generals Frazer, Phillips, and Riedesel, — 
all excellent officers. Frazer's corps was mostly made 
up of picked companies, taken from other battalions 
and joined with the 24th regiment of the line. As its 
duty was of the hardest, so its material was of the best 
the army could afford. Next to Burgoyne, Frazer was, 
beyond all question, the officer most looked up to by 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 



35 



the soldiers ; in every sense of the word, he was a 
thorough soldier. His corps was, therefore, Burgoyne's 
right arm. Phillips commanded the artillery ; and 
Riedesel, the Germans. 

In the middle of June this army embarked on Lake 
Champlain. Of many warlike pageants the aged 
mountains had looked down upon, perhaps this was the 
most splendid and imposing. From the general to the 
private soldier, all were filled with high hopes of a 
successful campaign. In front, the Indians, painted and 
decked out for war, skimmed the lake in their light 
canoes. Next came the barges containing Frazer's 
corps, marshalled in one regular line, with gun-boats 
flanking it on each side ; next, the Royal George 
and Inflexible frigates, with other armed vessels form- 
ing the fleet. Behind this strong escort, the main 
body, with the generals, followed in close order ; and, 
last of all, came the camp followers, of whom there 
were far too many for the nature of the service in 
hand. 

In the distance the American watch-boats saw this 
gallant array bearing down upon them, in the confi- 
dence of its power. Hastening back to Ticonderoga, 
the word was passed along the lines to prepare for 
battle. 

For the Mohawk Valley expedition, St. Leger, who 
led it, took with him about seven hundred regular troops, 
two hundred loyalists, and eight guns. At Oswego, 
seven hundred Indians of the Six Nations joined him. 
With these, St. Leger started in July for Fort Stanwix, 



36 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

which barred his way to the Hudson, just as Ticonde- 
roga blocked Burgoyne's advance on the side of Lake 
Champlain, 

1 Soldiers were hired from the petty German princes for 
the American war. The Americans called them all Hessians, 
because some came from the principality of Hesse. George III. 
also tried to hire twenty thousand Russians of Empress Catharine, 
but she gave him to understand that her soldiers would be better 
employed. There was good material among the Germans, many 
of whom had served with credit under the Great Frederick ; but 
the British showed them little favor as comrades, while the Ameri- 
cans looked upon them as paid assassins. Not one in twenty 
knew any English, so that misconception of orders was not unfre- 
quent, though orders were usually transmitted from headquarters 
in French. A jealousy also grew up out of the belief that Bur- 
goyne gave the Germans the hardest duty, and the British the most 
praise. At Hubbardton, and on the 19th of September, the 
Germans saved him from defeat, yet he ungenerously, we think, 
lays the disaster of October 7th chiefly at their door. 

2 Indians and Irregulars. It is impossible to give the 
number of these accurately, as it was constantly fluctuating. 
Though Burgoyne started with only four hundred Indians, the 
number was increased by five hundred at Skenesborough, and he 
was later joined by some of the Mohawks from St. Leger's force. 
In like manner, his two hundred and fifty Canadians and Provin- 
cials had grown to more than six hundred of the latter before he 
left Skenesborough. Most of these recruits came from the Ver- 
mont settlements. They were put to work clearing the roads, 
scouting, getting forward the supplies, collecting cattle, etc. Their 
knowledge of the country was greatly serviceable to Burgoyne. 
In the returns given of Burgoyne's regtdar troops, only the rank and 
file are accounted for. Staff and line officers would swell the 
number considerably. 



III. 

THE FALL OF TICONDEROGA. 

OO' 5» I777-) 

A HUNDRED years ago, the shores of Lake Champlain 
were for the most part a wilderness. What few settle- 
ments did exist were mostly grouped about the south- 
east corner of the lake, into which emigration had 
naturally flowed from the older New England States. 
And even these were but feeble plantations,^ separated 
from the Connecticut valley by lofty mountains, over 
which one rough road led the way. 

Burgoyne's companions in arms have told us of the 
herds of red deer seen quietly browsing on the hill- 
sides ; of the flocks of pigeons, darkening the air in 
their flight ; and of the store of pike, bass, and maske- 
longe with which the waters of the lake abounded. At 
one encampment the soldiers lived a whole day on the 
pigeons they had knocked off the trees with poles. So 
the passage of the lake must have seemed more like a 
pleasure trip to them than the prelude to a warlike 
campaign. 

In his way up the lake, Burgoyne landed at the 
River Bouquet, on the west shore, where for some days 
the army rested. 

To this rendezvous, large numbers of Indians had 



38 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

come to join the expedition. It was indispensable to 
observe the customs which had always prevailed among 
these peoples when going to war. So Burgoyne made 
them a speech, gave them a feast, and witnessed the 
wild antics of their war dance. 

He forbade their scalping the wounded, or destroying 
women and children. They listened attentively to his 
words, and promised obedience ; but these commands 
were so flatly opposed to all their philosophy of war, 
which required the extinction of every human feeling, 
that Burgoyne might as well have bidden the waters of 
the lake flow backward, as expect an Indian not to use 
his scalping-knife whenever an enemy lay at his mercy. 

Still, it is to Burgoyne's credit that he tried to check 
the ferocity of these savages, and we would also chari- 
tably believe him at least half ashamed of having to 
employ them at all, when he saw them brandishing 
their tomahawks over the heads of imaginary victims ; 
beheld them twisting their bodies about in hideous con- 
tortions, in mimicry of tortured prisoners ; or heard 
them howling, like wild beasts, their cry of triumph 
when the scalp is torn from an enemy's head. 

While thus drawing the sword with one hand, 
Burgoyne took his pen in the other. He drew up a 
paper which his Tory agents were directed to scatter 
among the people of Vermont, many of whom, he was 
assured, were at heart loyal to the king. These he in- 
vited to join his standard, or offered its protection to 
all who should remain neutral. All were warned against 
driving off their cattle, hiding their corn, or breaking 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 39 

down the bridges in his way. Should they dare dis- 
obey, he threatened to let loose his horde of savages 
upon them. Such a departure from the rules of honor- 
able warfare would have justified the Americans in 
declaring no quarter to the invaders. 

Well aware that he would not conquer the Americans 
with threats, Burgoyne now gave the order to his army 
to go forward. His view of what lay before him might 
be thus expressed : The enemy will, probably, fight at 
Ticonderoga. Of course I shall beat them. I will 
give them no time to rally. When they hear St. Leger 
is in the valley, their panic will be completed. We 
shall have a little promenade of eight days, to Albany. 

On June 29 the army was near Ticonderoga. This 
day Burgoyne made a stirring address to his soldiers, 
in which he gave out the memorable watchword, " This 
army must not ret r eat y 

The next day, Frazer's corps landed in full view of 
the fortress. The rest of the army was posted on both 
sides of the lake, which is nowhere wider than a river 
as the fortress is approached. The fleet kept the middle 
of the channel. With drums beating and bugles sound- 
ing, the different battalions took up their allotted 
stations in the woods bordering upon the lake. When 
night fell, the watch-fires of the besiegers' camps made 
red the waters that flowed past them. But as yet no 
hostile gun boomed from the ramparts of Ticonderoga. 

What was going on behind those grim walls which 
frowned defiance upon the invaders ? General Gates 
was no longer there to direct. General St. Clair ^ was 



40 . BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

now in command of perhaps four thousand effective 
men, with whom, nevertheless, he hoped to defend his 
miles of intrenchments against the assaults of twice his 
own numbers. His real weakness lay in not knowing 
what point Burgoyne would choose for attack, and he 
had been strangely delinquent in not calling for reen- 
forcements until the enemy was almost at the gates of 
the fortress itself. 

Burgoyne knew better than to heedlessly rush upon 
the lines that had proved Abercromby's destruction.^ 
He knew they were too strong to be carried without 
great bloodshed, and meant first to invest the fortress, 
and after cutting off access to it on all sides, then lay 
siesre to it in regular form. 

To this end, Frazer's corps was moved up to within 
cannon-shot of the works. His scouts soon found a 
way leading through old paths,* quite round the rear 

, , of the fortress, to the outlet of Lake Georw. 

July 2, ' o 

Mount Hope This was promptly seized. After a little 
seized. skirmishing, the enemy planted themselves 
firmly, on some high ground rising behind the old 
French lines, on this side ; thus making themselves 
masters of the communication with Lake George, and 
enclosing the fortress on the rear or land side. While 
this was going on, on the west shore, Riedesel's Ger- 
mans were moved up still nearer Mount Independence, 
on the Vermont shore, thus investing Ticonderoga on 
three sides. 

A more enterprising general would never have per- 
mitted his enemy to seize his communications with 




THE. INVESTMENT OF TICONDEROGA. 

[Pe7i and ink sketch by a British officer.^ 

A-B, Ticonderoga. C-D-E, Mount Independence. F, Barracks. G, Mount 
Defiance. H, Bridge joining the fortress proper with Mount Independence. 
I, American Fleet. "K, Outlet of Lake George. O, British Fleet. P, Three- 
Mile Point. Q, First Landing Place of Burgoyne. R, The Germans. T-U, Posi- 
tion taken on Mount Hope. \V, Second Position of same Troops at U. Z, Portage 
to Lake George. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 43 

Lake George, without making a struggle for their pos- 
session, but St. Clair appears to have thought his forces 
unequal to the attempt, and it was not made. The 
disaster which followed was but the natural result. 

Just across the basin formed by the widening of the 
outlet of Lake George, a steep-sided mountain rises 
high above all the surrounding region. Its Mount 
summit not only looks down upon the fortress. Defiance 
in every part, but over all its approaches by °""P*^ 
land or water. Not a man could march without being 
distinctly seen from this mountain. Yet, to-day, the 
eye measures its forest-shagged sides, in doubt if they 
can be scaled by human feet. Indeed, its ascent was 
so difficult that the Americans had neglected to occupy 
it at all. This is Mount Defiance, the most command- 
ing object for miles around. 

Burgoyne's engineers could not help seeing that if 
artillery could be got to the top of this mountain, 
Ticonderoga was doomed. They reconnoitred it. 
Though difficult, they said it might be done. St. Clair's 
timidity having given them the way to it, the 
British instantly began moving men and guns 
round the rear of the fortress, and cutting a road up the 
mountain-side. The work was pushed forward day and 
night. It took most of the oxen belonging to the army 
to drag two twelve-pounders up the steep ascent, but 
when they were once planted on the summit, Ticonde- 
roga lay at the mercy of the besiegers. 

When St. Clair saw the enemy getting ready to can- 
nonade him from Mount Defiance, he at once gave 



44 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

orders to evacuate the fortress ^ under cover of the night. 
Most of the garrison retreated over the bridge leading 
to Mount Independence, and thence by the road to 
Hubbardton. What could be saved of the baggage and 
army stores was sent off to Skenesborough, by water. 
Hurry and confusion were everywhere, for it was not 
doubted that the enemy would be upon them as soon as 
daylight should discover the fortress abandoned. This 
happened at an early hour of the morning. 
* The British instantly marched into the deserted 
works, without meeting with the least resistance. Ticon- 
dero^a's hundred cannon were silent under the menace 
of two. Burgoyne was now free to march his victorious 
battalions to the east, the west, or the south, whenever 
he should give the order. 

1 Feeble Plantations. No permanent settlements were 
begun west of the Green Momitains till after the conquest of 
Canada. After that, the report of soldiers who had passed over 
the military road from Charlestown on the Connecticut River, to 
Crown Point, brought a swarm of settlers into what is now Ben- 
nington County. vSettlement began in Rutland County in 177 1. 

'^ General Arthur St. Clair, of Scotch birth, had been a 
lieutenant with Wolfe at Quebec ; he resigned and settled in 
Pennsylvania; served with our army in Canada; made brigadier, 
August, 1776; major-general, February, 1777. 

3 Abercromby lost two thousand men in assaulting these lines 
in 1758. Since then they had been greatly strengthened. 

^ Through Old Paths. The Indians had passed this way 
centuries before the fortress was thought of. 

5 St. Clair seems to have waited just long enough for the 
defence to become difficult, to admit its impossibility. He chose 
the part of safety rather than that of glory. 



IV. 

HUBBARDTON. 

{July 7, 1777.) 

Not doubting he would find Skenesborough still in 
our possession, St. Clair was pushing for that place 
with all possible speed. He expected to get there by- 
land, before the enemy could do so by water ; then, 
after gathering up the men and stores saved from Ticon- 
deroga, St. Clair meant to fall back toward Fort 
Edward, where General Schuyler,^ his superior offi- 
cer, lay with two thousand men. 

This was plainly St Clair's true course. Indeed, 
there was nothing else for him to do, unless he decided 
to abandon the direct route to Albany altogether. So 
St. Clair did what a good general should. He resolved 
to throw himself between Burgoyne and Schuyler, whose 
force, joined to his own, would thus be able, even if 
not strong enough to risk a battle, at least to keep up a 
bold front toward the enemy. 

Though Burgoyne really knew nothing about Schuy- 
ler's force, he was keenly alive to the importance of 
cutting off the garrison of Ticonderoga from its line of 
retreat, and, if possible, of striking it a disabling blow 
before it could take up a new position. St. Clair 
counted on stealing a march before his retreat could 

45 



46 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

be interfered with. He also depended on the strength 
of the obstructions at the bridge ^ of Ticonderoga to 
delay the enemy's fleet until his own could get safely to 
Skenesborough. In both expectations, St. Clair was 
disappointed. 

In the first place, Burgoyne had sent Frazer out in 
pursuit of him, as soon as the evacuation was discov- 
ered ; in the second, Burgoyne's gunboats 

"^ ' had hewed their way through the obstruc- 
tions by nine in the morning, and were presently 
crowding all sail after the American flotilla, under 
command of Burgoyne himself. 

Riedesel's camp, we remember, lay on the Vermont 
side, and so nearest to Mount Independence, and St. 
Clair's line of retreat. Burgoyne, therefore, ordered 
Riedesel to fall in behind Frazer, who had just 
marched, and give that officer any support he might 
be in want of. 

Thus, most of the hostile forces were in active move- 
ment, either by land or water, at an early hour of the 
sixth. Let us first follow Frazer, in his effort to 
strike the American rear. 

Frazer had with him eight hundred and fifty men of 
his own corps. He pushed on so eagerly that the slow- 
moving Germans were far in the rear when the British 
halted for the night, near Hubbardton. The day had 
been sultry, the march fatiguing. Frazer's men threw 
themselves on the ground, and slept on their arms. 

St. Clair had reached Hubbardton the same after- 
noon, in great disorder. He halted only long enough 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 4/ 

for the rearguard to come up, and then hastened on, 
six miles farther, to Castleton, leaving Warner,^ with 
three regiments, to cover his retreat. Instead of 
keeping within supporting distance of the main body, 
Warner foolishly decided to halt for the night where 
he was, because his men were tired, thus putting a gap 
of six miles between his commander and himself. 

Warner did not neglect, however, to fell some trees 
in front of his camp, and this simple precaution, per- 
haps, proved the salvation of his command the next 
day. 

At five in the morning, Frazer's scouts fell upon 
Warner's pickets while they were cooking their break- 
fasts, unsuspicious of danger. The surprise 
was complete. With their usual dash, Frazer's 
men rushed on to the assault, but soon found themselves 
entangled among the felled trees and brushwood, be- 
hind which the Americans were hurriedly endeavoring 
to form. At the moment of attack, one regiment made 
a shameful retreat. The rest were rallied by Warner 
and Francis,* behind trees, in copses, or wherever a 
vantacre-^round could be had. As the combat took 
place in the woods, the British were forced to adopt 
the same tactics. Musket and rifle were soon doing 
deadly work in their ranks, every foot of ground was 
obstinately disputed, and when they thought the battle 
already won they found the Americans had only just 
begun to fight. 

For three hours, eight hundred men maintained a 
gallant and stubborn fight against the picked soldiers 



48 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

of Burgoyne's army, each side being repeatedly driven 
from its ground without gaining decided advantage 
over the other. Nor would Frazer have gained the 
day, as he at length did, but for the timely arrival 
of the Germans. Indeed, at the moment when the 
British were really beaten and ready to give way, the 
sound of many voices, singing aloud, rose above the 
din of battle, and near at hand. At first neither of 
the combatants knew what such strange sounds could 
mean. It was Riedesel's Germans advancing to the 
attack, chanting battle hymns to the fierce refrain of 
the musketry and the loud shouts of the combatants. 
Fifty fresh men would have turned the scale to either 
side. This reenforcement, therefore, decided the day. 
Being now greatly outnumbered, the Americans scat- 
tered in the woods around them. 

Although a defeat, this spirited little battle was 
every way honorable to the Americans, who fought on 
until all hope of relief had vanished. A single com- 
pany would have turned defeat into victory, when to 
the British, defeat in the woods, thirty miles from help, 
meant destruction. Even as it w^as, they did not know 
what to do with the victory they had just won, with the 
loss of two hundred men, killed and wounded, seven- 
teen of whom were officers. They had neither shelter 
nor medicines for the wounded, nor provisions for them- 
selves. The battle had exhausted their ammunition, 
and every moment was expected»to bring another swarm 
of foes about their ears. 

The Americans had three hundred men killed and 



TicondeKQ 



H^bb^Kdton 

Y--0 




SttKatoga 



ST. clair's retreat — burgoyne's advance on 

FORT EDWARD. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASIOISr 5 I 

wounded, and many taken. The brave Colonel Francis, 
who had so admirably conducted the retreat from 
Ticonderoga, was killed while rallying his men. Sel- 
dom has a battle shown more determined obstinacy in 
the combatants, seldom has one been more bloody for 
the numbers engaged. 

While Frazer was thus driving St. Clair's rearguard 
before him on the left, the British were giving chase to 
the American flotilla on the lake. This had hardly 
reached Skenesborough, encumbered with the sick, 
the baggage, and the stores, when the British gun- 
boats came up with, and furiously attacked, it. Our 
vessels could not be cleared for action or make effec- 
tive resistance. After making what defence they could, 
they were abandoned, and blown up by their crews. 
Skenesborough was then set on fire, the Americans 
makino: good their retreat to Fort Anne,^ with the loss 
of all their stores. 

St. Clair heard of Warner's defeat and of the 
taking of Skenesborough almost at the same hour. 
His first plan had wholly miscarried. His soldiers 
were angry and insubordinate, half his available force 
had been scattered at Hubbardton, his supplies were 
gone, his line of retreat in the enemy's hands. Finding 
himself thus cut off from the direct route to Fort 
Edward, he now marched to join Schuyler by way of 
Rutland, Manchester, and Bennington. This he suc- 
ceeded in doing on the twelfth, with about half the men 
he had led from Ticonderoga. Warner, too, brought off 
the shattered remnant of his command to Bennington. 



52 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

On his part, Schuyler had promptly sent a reenforce- 
ment to Fort Anne, to protect St. Clair's retreat, as 
soon as he knew of it. These troops soon found other 
work on their hands than that cut out for them. 

Burgoyne was determined to give the Americans no 

time either to rally, or again unite their scattered 

bands in his front. Without delay, one regi- 

July 7. ^ ' £> 

ment was pushed forward to Fort Anne, on 
the heels of the fugitives who had just left Skenes- 
borouo:h in flames. When this battalion reached the 
fort, instead of waiting to be attacked, the Americans 
sallied out upon it with spirit, and were driving it 
before them in full retreat, when the yells of some 
Indians, who were lurking in the neighboring woods, 
spread such a panic among the victors that they gave 
up the fight, set fire to Fort Anne, and retreated to Fort 
Edward with no enemy pursuing them. The defeated 
British then fell back to Skenesborough, so that each de- 
tachment may be said to have run away from the other. 
General Burgoyne had much reason to be elated 
with his success thus far. In one short week he had 
taken Ticonderoga, with more than one hundred can- 
non ; had scattered the garrison right and left ; had 
captured or destroyed a prodigious quantity of warlike 
stores, the loss of which distressed the Americans long 
after: had annihilated their naval armament on the 
lake, and had sown dismay among the neighboring colo- 
nies broadcast. It was even a question whether there 
was any longer a force in his front capable of offering 
the least resistance to his march. 




BLOCK HOUSE, FORT ANNE. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 55 

With these exploits, the first stage of the invasion 
may be said to have ended. If ever a man had been 
favored by fortune, Burgoyne was that man. The next 
stage must show him in a very different light, as the 
fool of fortune, whose favors he neither knew how to 
deserve when offered him, nor how to compel when 
withheld. 

1 General Philip Schuyler, one of the four major-generals 
first created by Congress, June, 1775. Had seen some service in 
the French War ; was given command of the Northern Depart- 
ment, including Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Fort Stanwix, etc., 
February, 1777, as the one man who could unite the people of New 
York against the enemy. Gates declined to serve under him. 

2 Obstructions at the Bridge. The Americans had 
stretched a boom of logs, strongly chained together, across the 
strait. 

3 Seth Warner was on the way to Ticonderoga when he met 
St. Clair retreating. The rearguard, which Colonel Francis had 
previously commanded, was then increased, and put under War- 
ner's orders. 

* Colonel Ebenezer Francis of Newton, Mass., colonel, nth 
Massachusetts Regiment. His bravery was so conspicuous that 
the British thought he was in chief command of the Americans. 

^ Fort Anne, one of the minor posts built during the French 
War to protect the route from Albany to Lake Champlain. It 
consisted of a log blockhouse surrounded by a palisade. Boat 
navigation of Lake Champlain began here, fourteen miles from 
Skenesborough, by Wood Creek flowing into it. 



V. 

FACING DISASTER. 

One of Washington's most trusted generals said, and 
said truly, that it was only through misfortune that the 
Americans would rise to the character of a great peo- 
ple. Perhaps no event of the Revolution more signally 
verified the truth of this saying, than the fall of 
Ticonderoga. 

Let us see how this disaster was affecting the North- 
ern States. In that section, stragglers and deserters 
were spreading exaggerated accounts of it on every side. 
In Vermont, the settlers living west of the mountains 
were now practically defenceless. Burgoyne's agents 
were undermining their loyalty; the fall of Ticonde- 
roga had shaken it still more. Rather than abandon 
their farms, many no longer hesitated to put themselves 
under British protection. Hundreds, who were too 
patriotic to do this, fled over the mountains, spreading 
consternation as they went. From Lake Champlaici to 
the New England coast, there was not a village which 
did not believe itself to be the especial object of 
Burgoyne's vengeance. Indeed, his name became a 
bugbear, to frighten unruly children with. 

Of those who had been with the army, many believed 
it their first duty to protect their families, and so went 

56 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 57 

home. Numbers, who were on the way to Ticonderoga, 
turned back, on hearing that at was taken. To Bur- 
goyne, these results were equal to a battle gained, since 
he was weakening the Americans, just as surely, in this 
way, with entire safety to himself. 

In despair, those settlers who stood faithful among 
the faithless, turned to their New Hampshire brethren. 
" If we are driven back, the invader will soon be at 
your doors," they said. "We are your buckler and 
shield. Our humble cabins are the bulwark of your 
happy firesides. But our hearts fail us. Help us or 
we perish ! " 

Could Schuyler do nothing for these suffering peo- 
ple ? To let them be ruined and driven out was not 
only bad policy, but worse strategy. He knew that 
Burgoyne must regard these settlements with foreboding, 
as the home of a hostile and brave yeomanry, whose 
presence was a constant threat to him. To maintain 
them, then, was an act of simplest wisdom. Schuyler 
could ill spare a single soldier, yet it was necessary to 
do something, and that quickly, for all New England 
was in a tumult, and Burgoyne said to be marching 
all ways at once. What wonder, since Washington 
himself believed New England to be the threatened 
point ! ^ 

Warner's regiment had been recruited among the 
Green Mountain Boys of this very section. Schuyler 
posted what was left of it at Manchester, to be at once a 
rallying-point for the settlers, a menace to the loyalists, 
and a defence against Burgoyne's predatory bands. 



58 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

who were already spreading themselves out over the 
surrounding region. It was not much, but it was 
something. 

From New Hampshire, the panic quickly spread into 
Massachusetts, and throughout all New England. As 
usually happens, the loss of Ticonderoga was laid at 
the door of the generals in chief command. Many 
accused St. Clair of treacherous dealing. Everywhere, 
people were filled with wrath and astonishment. " The 
fortress has been sold ! " they cried. Some of the 
officers, who had been present, wrote home that the 
place could have held out against Burgoyne for weeks, 
or until help could have arrived. This was sure to find 
ready believers, and so added to the volume of denun- 
ciation cast upon the head of the unlucky St. Clair. 

But these passionate outbursts of feeling were soon 
quenched by the necessity all saw for prompt action. 
Once passion and prejudice had burned out, our people 
nobly rose to the demands of the situation. But con- 
fidence in the generals of the Northern army was gone 
forever. The men of New England would not sit long 
in the shadow of defeat, but they said they would no 
more be sacrificed to the incompetency of leaders who 
had been tried and found wanting. Congress had to 
pay heed to this feeling. Washington had to admit the 
force of it, because he knew that New England must 
be chiefly looked to in this crisis, to make head against 
Burgoyne. If she failed, all else would fail. 

If we turn now to New York, what do we see ? Five 
counties in the enemy's hands. Three more, so divided 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 59 

against themselves as to be without order or govern- 
ment. Of the remaining six, the resources of Orange, 
Ulster, and Dutchess were already heavily 
taxed with the duty of defending the passes Cortiandt's 
of the Hudson ; Westchester was being over- letters, 
run by the enemy, at will ; only Tryon and Albany 
remained, and in Tryon, every able-bodied citizen, not a 
loyalist, was arming to repel the invasion of St. Leger, 
now imminent. 

We have thus briefly glanced at the dangers resulting 
from the fall of Ticonderoga, at the resources of the sec- 
tions which Burgoyne was now threatening to lay waste 
with fire and sword, and at the attitude of the people 
toward those generals who had so grievously disap- 
pointed them in the conduct of the campaign, up to 
this time. 

In the words of one distinguished writer, " The evacua- 
tion of Ticonderoga was a shock for which no part of 
the United States was prepared." In the Ian- john 
guage of another, " No event throughout the Marshall, 
whole war produced such consternation, nothing could 
have been more unexpected." 

It was not so much the loss of the fortress itself, 
— as costly as it was to the impoverished colonies, that 
could have been borne, — but the people had been led to 
believe, and did believe, it was next to impregnable ; 
nor could they understand why those who had been 
intrusted with its defence should have fled without 
striking a blow, or calling for assistance until too late. 

Congress immediately ordered all the generals of the 



6o BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

Northern army^ to Philadelphia, in order that their 
conduct might be looked into. John Adams hotly 
declared that they would never be able to defend a 
post until they shot a general. But Washington, always 
greatest in defeat, hastened to show how such a step 
was doubly dangerous to an army when fronting its 
enemy, and wisely procured its suspension for the 
present. He first set himself to work to soothe Schuy- 
ler's wounded pride, while stimulating him to greater 
activity. " We should never despair," he nobly said. 
And again : " If neyv difficulties arise, we must only put 
forth new exertions. I yet look forward to a happy 
change." It was indeed fortunate that one so stout of 
heart, with so steady a hand, so firm in the belief of 
final triumph, so calm in the hour of greatest danger, 
should have guided the destinies of the infant nation at 
this trying hour. 

1 The Threatened Point. Baffled in his purpose of taking 
Philadelphia by Washington's success at Trenton, Sir William 
Howe had decided on making another attempt ; but his manoeuvres 
led Washington to believe Howe was going to Newport, R.I., with 
the view of overrunning Massachusetts. See Note 3, " Plan of 
Campaign " (p. 32). 

^ Generals of the Northern Army. Schuyler and St. 
Clair were chiefly inculpated. Brigadiers Poor, Patterson, and 
De Fcrmoy, who were with St. Clair at Ticonderoga, were included 
in the order. All had agreed in the necessity for the evacuation, 
and all came in for a share of the public censure. Poor and 
Patterson nobly redeemed themselves in the later operations 
against Burgoyne. 



VI. 

THE MARCH TO FORT EDWARD.^ 

It is a well-known maxim of war, that the general 
who makes the fewest mistakes will come off conqueror. 

In his haste to crush the Americans before they 
could combine against him, Burgoyne had overshot his 
mark. His troops were now so widely scattered that 
he could not stir until they were again collected. By 
the combats of Hubbardton and Fort Anne, nothing 
material had been gained, since St. Clair was at Fort 
Edward by the time Frazer got to Skenesborough, and 
the Americans had returned to Fort Anne as soon as 
the British left the neighborhood. 

After the battle of Hubbardton, Riedesel was posted 
at Castleton, in order to create the impression that the 
British army was moving into New England. By this 
bit of strategy, Burgoyne expected to keep back reen- 
forcements from Schuyler. Riedesel's presence also 
gave much encouragement to the loyalists, who now 
joined Burgoyne in such numbers as to persuade him 
that a majority of the inhabitants were for the king. 
The information they gave, proved of vital consequence 
in determining Burgoyne's operations in the near future. 

Two routes were now open to Burgoyne. Contrary 
to sound judgment, he decided on marching to Fort 

6i 



62 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

Edward, by way of Fort Anne, instead of going back 
to Ticonderoga, making that his depbt^ and proceed- 
ing thence up Lake George to Fort Edward and the 
Hudson. Unquestionably, the latter route would 
have taken him to Albany, by the time he actually 
reached Fort Edward, and in much better condition to 
fight. 

Burgoyne had said he was afraid that going back to 
Ticonderoga would dispirit his soldiers. It could have 
been done in half the time required for bringing the 
supplies up to it at Skenesborough, to say nothing of 
the long and fatiguing marches saved by water carriage 
across Lake George. 

Be that as it may, from the moment Burgoyne de- 
cided in favor of the Fort Anne route, that moment the 
possession of Fort Anne became a necessity to him. 
Had he first attacked it with fifteen hundred men, in- 
stead of five hundred, he would have taken it ; but even 
if he had occupied it after the fight of the eighth, the 
Americans would have been prevented from blocking 
his way, as they subsequently did with so much effect. 
In Burgoyne's case, delays were most dangerous. It 
seems only too plain, that he was the sort of gen- 
eral who would rather commit two errors than retract 
one. 

Let us see what Burgoyne's chosen route offered of 
advantage or disadvantage. The distance by it to Fort 
Edward is only twenty-six miles. By a good road, in 
easy marches, an army should be there in two days ; 
in an exigency, in one. It was mostly a wilderness 




OLD FORT EDWARD. 
A, Magazine. B, Barracks. C, Storehouse. D, Hospital. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION- 6$ 

country, and, though generally level, much of it was a 
bog, which could only be made passable by laying down 
a corduroy road. There were miles of such road to be 
repaired or built before wagons or artillery could be 
dragged over it. Indeed, a worse country to march 
through can hardly be imagined. On the other hand, 
of this twenty-six miles. Wood Creek, a tributary of 
Lake Champlain, afforded boat navigation for nine or 
ten, or as far as Fort Anne, for the artillery, stores, 
and baggage. 

But while Burgoyne was getting his scattered forces 
again in hand, and was bringing everything up the lake 
to Skenesborough, the garrison of Fort Edward had 
been spreading themselves out over the road he' meant 
to take, and were putting every obstacle in his way that 
ingenuity could devise or experience suggest. Hun- 
dreds of trees were felled across the road. The navi- 
gation of Wood Creek was similarly interrupted. Those 
trees growing on its banks were dexterously dropped 
so as to interlock their branches in mid-stream. Farms 
were deserted. All the live-stock was driven out of 
reach, to the end that the country itself might offer the 
most effectual resistance to Bur^jovne's march. 

Burgoyne could not move until his working parties 
had cleared the way, in whole or in part. From this 
cause alone, he was detained more than a week at 
Skenesborough. This delay was as precious to the 
Americans as it was vexatious to Burgoyne, since it 
gave them time to bring up reenforcements, form 
magazines, and prepare for the approaching struggle, 



1 



66 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

while the enemy's difficulties multiplied with every mile 
he advanced. 

At length the British army left Skenesborough. It 

took two days to reach Fort Anne, and five to arrive 

at Fort Edward, where it halted to allow the 

July 25. 

heavy artillery, sent by way of Lake George, 
to join it ; give time to bring up its supplies of food and 
ammunition, without which the army was helpless to 
move farther on ; and, meanwhile, permit the general 
to put in execution a scheme by which he expected to 
get a supply of cattle, horses, carts, and forage, of all of 
which he was in pressing want. 

Still another body of savages joined Burgoyne at 
Fort Edward. Better for him had they staid in their 
native wilds, for he presently found himself equally 
powerless to control their thirst for blood, or greed for 
plunder. 

Not yet feeling himself strong enough to risk a 
battle, Schuyler decided to evacuate Fort Edward on 
the enemy's approach. He first called in to him the 
garrison at Fort George. Nixon's brigade, 
which had just been obstructing the road 
from Fort Anne, was also called back. All told, 
Schuyler now had only about four thousand men. 
With these he fell back ; first, to Moses's Creek, then 
to Saratoga, then to Stillwater. 

1 Fort Edward, a link in the chain of forts extending between 
Canada and the Hudson, — first called Fort Lyman, for Colonel 
Phineas Lyman, who built it in 1755, — stood at the elbow of the 
Hudson, where the river turns west, after approaching within six- 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 6y 

teen miles of Lake George, to which point there was a good mili- 
tary road. The fort itself was only a redoubt of timber and earth, 
surrounded by a stockade, and having a casern, or barrack, inside, 
capable of accommodating two hundred soldiers. It was an im- 
portant military position, because this was the old portage, or 
carrying-place, from the Hudson to Lake George, though the fort 
was no great matter. 



VII. 

BEFORE BENNINGTON. 

On the 9th of August, Frazer's corps moved down to 
Duer's house, seven miles from Fort Edward, and 
Frazer seven from Saratoga. This was done to 
advances, cover the expedition Burgoyne had planned ; 
first, to confirm the belief that he was about to fall on 
New England, and, next, for supplying his army with 
horses, cattle, carts, provisions, forage — everything, in 
short, of which he stood in want. Both objects would 
be gained at once, since fear of the first would make 
easy the second. 

Burgoyne ached to strike a blow at New England. 
The successes he had just met with tempted him on 
„ . ^. toward his wishes : yet he dared not go too 

Real object ' -' Z' 

of the far, because the king's orders forbade his turn- 
Bennington -j j^gide from his main object, to march into 

raid. ^ •* 

New Enjjland, as he himself had asked for 
discretionary power to do, when laying his plan before 
the ministers. Still, as New England was to be the 
final object of the campaign, Burgoyne was impatient 
to set about humbling her in good earnest. Events 
were working so favorably for him, that he now saw his 
chance to go at least half way toward his desires. So 
the expedition to Bennington was certainly far from 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 69 

being the effect of any sudden decision on Burgoyne's 
part, or wholly due to the pressing want of supplies. 
It would, we think, have been undertaken in any 
event. 

On the other hand, the victualling of his army was the 
one obstacle to Burgoyne's advance to Albany. So long 
as every pound of bread and meat had to be brought 
from Quebec to Skenesborough, and from Skenesbor- 
ough to his camp, the farther the army marched, the 
greater the difficulty of feeding it became. It was 
now living from hand to mouth, so to speak. Nobody 
but Tories would sell it a pound of beef or an ear of 
corn. What gold could not buy, Burgoyne determined 
to take by force. If enough could be gleaned, in this 
way, from the country round, he could march on ; if 
not, he must halt where he was, until sufficient could be 
brought up over a road every day growing longer and 
more dangerous. Burgoyne would never submit to the 
last alternative without trying the first. 

For the moment then, the problem, how to feed his 
army so as to put it in motion with the least possible 
delay, was all-important with General Burgoyne. The 
oldest, and most populous, of the Vermont settlements 
lay wdthin striking distance on his left. He knew that 
rebel flour was stored in Bennington. He had been 
told that half the farmers were loyal at heart, and that 
the other half would never wait for the coming of Brit- 
ish veterans. Burgoyne was puffed up with the notion 
that he was going to conjure the demon of rebellion 
with the magic of his name. Already he saw himself 



yo BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

not only a conqueror, but lawgiver to the conquered. 
On the whole, the plan seemed easy of accomplishment. 
Burgoyne was like a man starving in the midst of 
plenty. Supplies he must have. If they could be 
wrung from the enemy, so much the better. 

An expedition chiefly designed to rob barnyards, 
corn-cribs, and henroosts promised little glory to those 
engaged in it. This may have been the reason why 
Burgoyne chose to employ his Germans, who were 
always excellent foragers, rather than his British sol- 
diers. Perhaps he thought the Germans would inspire 
most fear. Be that as it may, never did a general 
make a more costly mistake.-^ 

The command was given to Colonel Baum, who, with 
about a thousand Germans, Indians, Canadians, and 

Baum refugee loyalists, started out from camp on 
marches for his maraud, on the eleventh, halted at Batten- 
Kill on the twelfth, and reached Cambridge 
on the thirteenth. He was furnished with Tory guides, 
who knew the country well, and with instructions look- 
ing to a long absence from the army. 

Burgoyne then began mancEuvring so as to mask 
Baum's movements from Schuyler. 

Frazer was marched down to Batten-Kill, with his 

own and Breyman's corps. Leaving Breyman here to 

Frazer Support either Baum or himself, in case of 

crosses the need, Frazer crossed the Hudson on the four- 

" ^°"" teenth, and encamped on the heights of Sara- 
toga that night. The rest of the army moved on to 
Duer's, the same day. By thus threatening Schuyler 



-Ducrs House 



Manchester 




POSITION OF BELLIGERENTS BEFORE BENNINGTON. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 73 

with an advance in force, of which Frazer's crossing 
was conclusive proof, Burgoyne supposed Baum would 
be left to plunder at his leisure, but he seems to have 
thought little of the opposition which Baum, on his side, 
might meet with from the settlers themselves ; though 
this too was provided against in Baum's orders, and by 
posting Breyman on Baum's line of march. 

If Baum succeeded to his wishes, Burgoyne meant to 
throw the whole army across the Hudson immediately. 
Already Frazer was intrenching at Saratoga, with the 
view of protecting the crossing. Having now so placed 
his troops as to take instant advantage of Baum's 
success, of which he felt no manner of doubt, Bur- 
goyne could only sit still till Baum should be heard 
from. 

Meanwhile, the New England militia were flocking 
to Manchester in squads, companies, or regiments. 
Washington had said they were the best yeomanry in 
the world, and they were about to prove their right to 
this title more decisively than ever. Ministers dis- 
missed their congregations with the exhortation, " He 
that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy 
one." Some clergymen even took a musket and went 
into the ranks. Apathy and the numbness that suc- 
ceeds defeat were dissipated by these appeals and 
these examples. 

It was Washington's policy to keep a force on Bur- 
goyne's flank, which might be used to break up his 
communications, cut off his provision trains, or other- 
wise so harass him as to delay his march. In General 



74 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

Lincoln '^ he found an officer, at once capable and brave, 
who had the confidence of the New England people. 
Lincoln was, therefore, sent to take command of the 
militia now mustering at Manchester. 

At the same time, New Hampshire called upon the 
veteran Stark ^ to lead her forces into the field. Stark 
had left the army in disgust, because Congress had 
promoted other officers over his head, not more worthy 
than himself. He was still smarting under the sense 
of wrong, when this command was offered him. He 
was like Achilles, sulking in his tent. 

Stark said that he asked nothing better than to 
fight, but insisted that he would do so only upon 
condition that the State troops should be exclu- 
sively under his orders. To agree to this would be 
practically an exercise of State sovereignty. But time 
pressed, Stark's name was a host in itself : it was 
thought best to give his wounded vanity this sop; 
for, by general consent, he was the only man for the 
crisis. 

Lincoln found six hundred men assembled at Man- 
chester, most of whom belonged to Stark's brigade. 
On the seventh, Stark himself arrived with 

Aug. 6. 

eight hundred more. By Schuyler's order, 
Lincoln desired Stark to march them to the main army 
at once. Stark replied that, being in an independent 
command, he would take orders from nobody as to how 
or where he should move his troops. 

Though plainly subversive of all military rules, Stark's 
obstinacy proved Burgoyne's destruction ; for if Schuyler 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 75 

had prevailed, there would never have been a battle of 
Bennington. 

Though undoubtedly perplexed by the situation "in 
which he found himself placed, of antagonism to the 
regularly constituted military authority of the nation, 
Stark's future operations show excellent military judg- 
ment on his part. He was not going to abandon 
Schuyler, or leave Vermont uncovered ; still less was 
he disposed to throw away the chance of striking 
Burgoyne by hanging on his flank, and of thus achiev- 
ing something on his own account. Stark's sagacity 
was soon justified to the world. 

He determined to march with part of his force to 
Bennington, twenty-five miles south of Manchester, 
and about the same distance from Stillwater. 

. . . Aug. g. 

In this position he would easily be able to 
carry out either of the objects he had in view, assist 
Schuyler, cover Bennington, or get in a telling blow 
somewhere, when least expected. 

Burgoyne's expectation of surprising Bennington was 
thus completely frustrated. 

Baum learned at Cambridge that the Americans were 
at Bennington, to the number of eighteen hundred. 
He immediately wrote Burgoyne to this effect. On 
the next day, he marched to Sancoic, a mill- 
stream falling into the Walloomsac River in 
North Hoosac, and after again writing Burgoyne, con- 
firming the account he had previously sent about the 
force in his front, moved on toward Bennington, under 
the impression that the Americans would not wait to 
be attacked. 



76 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

1 A Costly Mistake to give the command to an officer who 
could not speak English; still another, to intrust an expedition in 
which celerity of movement was all-important, to soldiers loaded 
down with their equipments, as the Germans were, instead of to 
light troops. Colonel Skene went with Baum. See note 4, p. 18. 

2 General Benjamin Lincoln, born at Hingham, Mass., 1733. 
Made a major-general, February, 1777. Joined Schuyler, July 29, 
at Fort Miller, while our army was retreating; sent thence to Man- 
chester. One of those captains who, while seldom successful, are 
yet considered brave and skilful commanders. 

3 General John Stark, born at Londonderry, N.H., 1728, 
had seen more active service than most officers of his time. He 
had fought with Abercromby at Ticonderoga, against Howe at 
Bunker Hill, and with Washington at Trenton. Notwithstanding 
this, he was passed over in making promotions, perhaps because 
he had less education than some others, who lacked his natu- 
ral capacity for a military life. Congress first censured him for 
insubordination, and then voted him thanks, and promotion to a 
brigadiership for his victory over Baum. 



VIII. 

BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.-^ 

Burgoyne's movements convinced Schuyler that he 
would shortly be attacked by the whole British army, as 
Burgoyne had intended and foreseen. Schuyler there- 
fore again urged Stark to come to his assistance with- 
out more delay, if he would not have the burden of 
defeat lie at his own door. This ajDpeal took present 
effect. 

Nothing happened till the thirteenth. Meantime, 
Stark had decided to go to Schuyler's assistance. His 
brigade was under arms, ready to march, when a woman 
rode up in haste with the news that hostile Indians were 
running up and down the next town, spreading terror 
in their path. She had come herself, because the road 
was no longer safe for men to travel it. Stark quickly 
ordered out two hundred men to stop the supposed 
marauders, and gain further intelligence. 

This detachment soon sent back word that the Indians 
were only clearing the way for a larger force, which was 
marching toward Bennington. Swift couriers were 
instantly despatched to Manchester, to hurry forward 
the troops there to Stark's aid. 

The next day Stark moved out toward the enemy, in 

77 



yS BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

order to look for his detachment. He soon fell in with 

it, fighting in retreat, with the enemy following close 

behind. Stark halted, formed his line, and 

Aug. 14. 

gathered in his scouts. This defiance brought 
the enemy to a stand also. 

Seeing before him a force as strong as, or stronger 
than, his own, Baum was now looking about him for 
ground suitable to receive an attack upon ; making one 
himself was farthest from his thoughts, as Burgoyne had 
given him express orders not to risk an engagement, 
if opposed by a superior force, but to intrench, and 
send back for help at once. This was precisely 
Baum's present situation. He therefore lost no time 
in sending a courier to headquarters. 

On his part, Stark did not wish to fight till Warner 
could come up, or delay fighting long enough for the 
enemy to be reenforced. Baum's evident desire to avoid 
an action made Stark all the more anxious to attack 
him, and he rcoolved to do so not later than the next 
morning, by which time he confidently reckoned on 
having Warner's regiment with him. Though small, it 
had fought bravely at Hubbardton, and Stark felt that 
his raw militia would be greatly strengthened by the 
presence of such veterans among them. 

Rain frustrated Stark's plan for attacking the next 

day, so there was only a little skirmishing, in which the 

Americans had the advantage. Baum im- 

Aug. 15. . 

proved the delay by throwing up a redoubt of 
logs and earth on a rather high, flat-topped hill, rising 
behind the little Walloomsac River. In this he placed 





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BATTLE OF BENNINGTON. 



August i6, 1777. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 8 1 

his two field-pieces. His Canadians and loyalists took 
up a position across and lower down the stream, in his 
front, the better to cover the road by which his reenforce- 
ments must come, or the Americans attempt to cut off 
his retreat. These dispositions were all that time, the 
size of his force, and the nature of the ground, would 
permit. 

Rain also kept back the reenforcements that each 
side was so impatiently expecting. Stark chafed at 
the delay, Baum grew more hopeful of holding out 
until help could reach him. Burgoyne had, indeed, 
despatched Breyman to Baum's assistance at eight 
o'clock in the morning, with eight hundred and fifty 
men and two guns. This corps was toiling on, through 
mud and rain, at the rate of only a mile an hour, when 
an hour, more or less, was to decide the fate of the 
expedition itself. The fatigue was so great, that when 
urged on to the relief of their comrades, the weary 
Germans would grumble out, " Oh, let us give them time 
to get warm ! " 

Warner's regiment could not leave Manchester till 
the morning of the fifteenth, but by marching till 
midnight, it was near Bennington on the morning of 
the sixteenth. Breyman put so little energy into his 
movements that he was nowhere near Baum at that 
hour. Stark, however, was strengthened by the arrival 
of several hundred militia from Massachusetts, who 
came full of fight, and demanding to be led against the 
enemy without delay. Stark's reply was characteristic : 
" Do you want to go out now, while it is dark and 



82 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

rainy?" he asked. "No," the spokesman rejoined. 
"Then," continued Stark, "if the Lord should give us 
sunshine once more, and I do not give you fighting 
enough, I will never ask you to turn out again." 

The day broke clear and pleasant. Both parties 
prepared for the cominor battle. Stark had 

Aug. i6. 

the most men, but Baum the advantage of 
fighting behind intrenchments, and of having artillery, 
while Stark had none. 

At midday. Stark formed his men for the attack. 
All were yeomanry, in homespun, rudely equipped with 
pouches and powder-horns, and armed with the old 
brown firelocks, without bayonets, they had brought 
from their homes. Some had served in the preceding 
campaign, but not one in fifty had ever fired a shot in 
anger ; while many were mere lads, in whom enthusiasm 
for their leader and cause supplied the want of expe- 
rience. The work now required of them was such as 
only veterans were thought capable of doing. They 
were to storm intrenchments, defended by the trained 
soldiers of Europe ; yet not a man flinched when Stark, 
with a soldier's bluntness and fire, pointed his sword 
toward the enemy's redoubt and exclaimed, "There, 
my lads, are the Hessians ! To-night our flag floats 
over yonder hill, or Molly Stark is a widow ! " 

His men answered with loud cheers, grasped their 
weapons, and demanded to be led against the enemy. 
Stark then gave the wished-for order to march. 

Meanwhile, dismay reigned in Bennington. Every 
man who could load a musket had gone out to fight 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 83 

with Stark. Their household goods had been loaded 
upon wagons, ready to move off in case the day- 
went against them. Their wives and little ones stood 
hand in hand along the village street, throughout that 
long summer afternoon, listening to the peal of cannon 
and musketry, in fear for those who had gone forth to 
the battle, and expecting the moment that was to make 
them homeless wanderers. 

The story of the battle is soon told. Stark so 
divided his force as to attack the enemy in front, 
flank, and rear, at once. The nature of the ground 
was such as to hide the march of the several detach- 
ments from Baum's view, but he had no other idea than 
to keep close in his intrenchments. 

At three in the afternoon, firing began in Baum's 
rear. This was the signal that the several attacking 
columns had reached their allotted stations. All the 
Americans then rushed on to the assault. Baum found 
himself everywhere assailed with unlooked-for vigor. 
Never had he expected to see raw rustics charging up 
to the muzzles of his guns. In vain he plied them 
with grape and musketry. The encircling line grew 
tighter and tighter; the fire, hotter and hotter. For an 
hour he defended himself valiantly, hoping for night or 
Breyman to come. At last his fire slackened. The 
Americans clambered over the breastworks, and poured 
into the redoubt. For a few moments there was sharp 
hand-to-hand fighting. The Germans threw down their 
muskets, drew their broadswords, and desperately at- 
tempted to cut their way out. Most of them were 



84 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

beaten back or taken. A few only escaped. The 
Tories and Canadians fared no better. The victory 
was complete and decisive. 

Now, at the eleventh hour, Breyman was marching 
on the field to the sound of the firing. He had taken 
thirty-two hours to get over twenty-four miles. Sup- 
posing the day won, Stark's men were scattered about 
in disorder. Not even Stark himself seems to have 
thought of a rescuing force. Some were guarding the 
prisoners, some caring for the wounded, and some 
gathering up the booty. All had yielded to the de- 
moralization of victory, or to the temptation to plun- 
der. Most opportunely, Warner's men now came fresh 
into the fight. This gallant little band flung itself 
boldly in the path of the advancing foe, thus giving 
Stark the time to rally those nearest him, and lead 
them into action again. 

At first Breyman gained ground. With steady tread 
his veterans fired and moved on, pushing the Ameri- 
cans back, toward the scene of the first encounter ; but 
Baum was no longer there to assist, the scattered mili- 
tiamen were fast closing in round Breyman's flanks, 
and Stark had now brousfht one of Baum's cannon to 
bear, with destructive effect, upon the head of the 
enemy's advancing column. 

In no long time the deadly fire, poured in on all 
sides, began to tell upon Breyman's solid battalions. 
Our marksmen harassed his flanks. His front was 
hard pressed, and there were no signs of Baum. En- 
raged by the thought of having victory torn from their 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 85 

grasp, the Americans gave ground foot by foot, and 
inch by inch. At last the combatants were firing in 
each other's faces ; so close was the encounter, so deadly 
the strife, that Breyman's men were falling round him 
by scores, under the close and accurate aim of their 
assailants. Darkness was closing in. His artillery 
horses were shot down in their traces, his flanks driven 
in, his advance stopped. 

As soon as they perceived their advantage, the 
Americans redoubled their efforts. The firing grew 
tremendous. It was now Breyman who was forced 
back. Soon all order was lost. Favored by the 
darkness, he began a disorderly retreat. In an instant 
his guns were taken. Exhausted by fighting two bat- 
tles in one afternoon, no longer able in the darkness to 
tell friend from foe, the Americans soon gave over the 
pursuit. But, for the second time, they stood victors on 
the hard-fought field. All felt it to be a narrow escape 
from defeat, for if Breyman had loitered by the way, 
he had fought like a lion in the toils of the hunter. 

Thus Washington's sagacity had been vindicated, 
Stark's insubordination nobly atoned for, Schuyler's 
worst fears set at rest, by the fortunes of a single 
day. 

Four cannon, one thousand stand of arms,, and seven 
hundred prisoners, were the trophies of this victory. 
The enemy left two hundred of his dead on the field. 
Baum's corps was virtually destroyed, Breyman's badly 
cut up, Burgoyne's well-laid plans scattered to the 
winds. 



86 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

1 Battle of Benniitgton. Both actions actually occurred in 
the town of Hoosic, N.Y. (we cannot be held responsible for the 
absurd variations in spelling this name), though the troops were 
formed for the attack within the limits of Bennington, and Stark's 
despatch announcing his victory is dated at this place. A battle 
monument, designed to be three hundred and one feet high, is now 
being built on a commanding site at Bennington Centre, which is 
the old village. No more beautiful spot than this hill-environed 
valley, overlooked by Mount Anthony, could possibly commemo- 
rate to future centuries one of the decisive conflicts of the War 
for Independence. 



IX. 

AFTER BENNINGTON. 

Stark had, indeed, dealt Burgoyne a stunning blow. 
In a moment all his combinations were overthrown. 
Efforts were made to keep the disaster a secret from 
the army, but the movements made in consequence of 
it told the story but too plainly. 

In the first place, the whole army was hurried up to 
Batten-Kill in order to cover Breyman's and Frazer's 
retreat,! for Frazer had been ordered to re- 

Aug. 17. 

cross the Hudson at once. Frazer's position 
was most critical ; his bridge had been broken by a 
freshet, and for one whole day he was cut off from the 
main army. 

As soon as Breyman's worn-out men had straggled 
into camp, Burgoyne's fell back to Duer's again. Mean- 
time, Frazer had repaired his bridge and hastily re- 
crossed the Hudson. Riedesel's corps was sent back 
to Fort Edward. The whole army had thus 

, . ^ Aug. 18. 

made a retrograde movement m consequence 
of the defeat at Bennington, and now lay in echelon ^ 
from Fort Edward to Batten-Kill, in the camps it had 
occupied before the advance was begun ; it had re- 
treated upon its communications ; it was put on the 
defensive. 

87 



88 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

Burgoyne had now no choice left but to hold fast his 
communication with the lakes, and these could not be 
called safe while a victorious enemy was threatening 
his flank. From this time forward, he grew wary and 
circumspect. His councils began to be divided. The 
prestige of the army was lowered, confidence in its 
leaders visibly shaken. Even the soldiers began to 
grumble, criticise, and reflect. Burgoyne's vain boast 
that this army would not retreat, no longer met the 
conditions in which it stood. It had retreated. 

As if to prove the truth of the adage that misfortunes 
never come singly, most of Burgoyne's Indians now 
deserted him. So far from intimidating, their atrocities 
had served to arouse the Americans as nothing else 
could. As soldiers, they had usually run away at the 
first fire. As scouts, their minds were wholly fixed upon 
plundering. Burgoyne had sharply rebuked them for 
it. Ever sullen and intractable under restraint, their 
answer was at least explicit, " No plunder, no Indians ; " 
and they were as good as their word. 

We find, then, that the battle of Bennington had 
cost Burgoyne not far from two thousand men, whether 
soldiers or Indians. More than this, it had thrown him 
back upon his second alternative, which, we remember, 
was to halt until supplies could be brought from Can- 
ada. This was easily equivalent to a month's delay. 
Thirty days of inaction were thus forced upon Burgoyne 
at a time when every one of them was worth five hun- 
dred men to the Americans. Such were some of the 
substantial results of the victory at Bennington. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 89 

To the Americans, the moral and material gains were 
no less striking or important. At once confidence was 
restored. Men no longer hesitated to turn out, or feared 
for the result. A most hopeful sign was the alacrity 
with which the well-to-do farmers went into the ranks. 
There was general appreciation of the fact that Bur- 
goyne had seriously compromised himself by advancing 
as far as he had ; in short, the re-action was quite as 
decisive as that which had followed the victory at 
Trenton. 

1 Breyman's Retreat. The express from Eaum arrived at 
headquarters at 5 a.m. of the fifteenth. Orders were immedi- 
ately given Breyman to march. News of Baum's defeat reached 
Burgoyne during the night of the sixteenth. The 20th regiment, 
British, was immediately marched to Breyman's support. Bur- 
goyne's anxiety was so great, that he followed it until Breyman's 
corps was met on the road. 

2 Echelon, the P'lench word for step-ladder, by adoption a 
universal military term, well describes the posting of troops, be- 
longing to one armv, at stated intervals apart, so as to be moved 
forward or backward step by step, always keeping the same rela- 
tive distances between the separate bodies. In marking out such 
positions on the map, the columns would look like the rounds of 
a ladder, hence the term. 



X. 

ST. leger's expedition. 

Burgoyne's hopes now chief!}' turned ^ipon the prom- 
ised cooperation of St. Lege r from Oswego, and of 
Sir William Howe from New York. 

Convinced that the enemy would shortly invade the 

Refer to Mc)hawk Valley, Schuyler had sent Colonel 

"Plan of Gansevoort^ to put Fort Stanwix,^ the key to 

Campaign." jj^jg vallcy, in a state of defence, before it 

should be attacked. 




Forf Oswego 



ST. leger's route to fort stanwix. 

St. Leger's force was the counterpart of Burgoyne's, 
in that it consisted of regular troops, loyalists, and 
Indians. Many of the loyalists, and most of the In- 
dians, had lived in this valley, so that St. Leger had no 

90 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 9 1 

want of guides, who knew every foot of ground, or of 
spies acquainted with the sentiments of every settler. 

A scanty supply of provisions had just been brought 
into the fort when St. Leger's scouts opened fire upon 
it. The garrison shut the gates and returned 

o Aug. 3. 

the fire. Instead of finding Fort Stanwix 
defenceless, St. Leger was compelled to lay siege 
to it. 

The news of St. Leger's appearance in the valley 
roused the settlers in arms. Near a thousand men, all 
brave, but without discipline, promptly marched, under 
General Herkimer,^ to the relief of Fort Stanwix. 
Gansevoort was notified, and was to aid the movement 
by making a sortie from the fort, at the proper moment. 

St. Leger's spies soon discovered Herkimer's men 
coming. All the rangers, and most of the Indians, went 
out to waylay them in the thick forests. Not far from 
Oriskany, Brant,* the Mohawk chief, and Johnson,^ the 
loyalist leader, hid their men in a ravine, through which 
the Americans would have to pass, in a thin line, over 
a cause wav of lo";s. 

Meantime, the Americans were heedlessly pressing 
on, without order, to the rescue of their comrades. In 
their impatience, even ordinary precautions 
were neglected. When the van entered the 
ravine, a terrible fire mowed down the front ranks by 
scores ; those in the rear fled in a panic from the field. 
It was downright butchery. 

After the firing had continued some time, those 
Americans whom panic had not seized, threw them- 



92 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

selves into a posture of defence, and resolved to sell 
their lives dearly. Herkimer, their leader, had been 
struck down by a bullet, among the first ; but, notwith- 
standing his wound was a disabling one, he continued 
to direct his men, and encourage them by his firm 
demeanor to fight on. In the face of overwhelming 
odds they gallantly stood their ground, until the enemy 
was alarmed by hearing firing in its rear, and drew off, 
leaving Herkimer's little band of heroes to retire 
unmolested from the field. 

The firing had been heard at Fort Stanwix, and the 
cause easily guessed. While the battle was raging at 
Oriskany, the garrison of the fort sallied out upon the 
besiegers' camps. They met with little opposition, as 
most of the defenders had gone out to fight Herkimer. 
The firing, however, had called off the savages from 
Herkimer, to the defence of their own camps. The 
sortie was gallantly made, and entirely successful ; but 
the attack on Herkimer rendered it of so little avail, 
that the battle of Oriskany left Gansevoort hardly better 
off than before. 

Two hundred of Herkimer's men were killed. He, 
too, soon died of his wounds. 

Though this attempt to relieve Fort Stanwix had so 
signally failed, Schuyler was much too sensible of the 
importance of holding it, not to make another effort to 
raise the siege. He could ill afford to spare the troops 
necessary for the undertaking, since Burgoyne was now 
manoeuvring in his front ; but the gravity of the situa- 
tion could not be overlooked. He therefore sent 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 93 

Arnold, with Learned's brigade, to retrieve Herkimer's 
disaster in the valley. 

Gansevoort was still holding out against St. Leger as 
stubbornly as ever. His situation was, however, grow- 
ing desperate, when, one day, without appar- 
ent cause, the besiegers suddenly decamped 
in headlong haste, leaving their tents standing, their 
baggage in their tents, and their artillery in the trenches. 

This inglorious and unlooked-for flight was brought 
about by emissaries from Arnold, who spread the report 
among St. Leger's Indians, that the Americans were 
comins: with forces as numerous as leaves on the trees. 
Arnold, whom no one will accuse of want of courage, 
was really undecided about advancing farther with 
his small force. His stratagem, however, took effect. 
Grown weary of the siege, the Indians now made no 
scruple of deserting their allies on the spot. In vain 
St. Leger. stormed and entreated by turns; stay they 
would not. He therefore had no choice but to follow 
them, in mortification and disgust, back to Oswego. 
In the belief that Arnold was close upon them, every- 
thing was left behind that could impede the march. 
The siege was abandoned in disgrace, and Fort Stan- 
wix saved by a simple stratagem. 

Six days later, Burgoyne was informed of St. Leger's 
retreat. He had now no other resource than in the 
promised advance up the Hudson, and in 
the strength of his artillery. By acting in 
detachments, his immediate force had been so seriously 
weakened that a forward movement on his part, with- 



94 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

out full assurance of active support from New York, 
savored far more of recklessness than sound military 
judgment. 

1 Colonel Peter Gansevoort, born at Albany, 1749, had 
fought with Montgomery at Quebec. 

2 Fort Stanwix, also called Schuyler, built by General Stan- 
wix of Abercromby's army in 1758. 

3 General Nicholas Herkimer, a leading settler of the 
Mohawk Valley. 

* Joseph Brant, or Thayandanega, sometime pupil of Dr. 
Wheelock's school (since Dartmouth College), was by all odds 
the most active, intelligent, and implacable enemy to the Americans 
that the war produced among his people. With Johnson, he held 
most of the Six Nations at enmity with us during the Revolution. 
(See Note 5.) 

^ Sir John Johnson was the son of Sir William, who gained 
wealth and a title by his victory over Dieskau at Lake George, 
1755. He was also the king's superintendent over the Six Nations, 
and had his residence at Caughnawaga, since called Johnstown in 
his honor. Sir John succeeded to his father's title and estates. 
He took sides with the Royalists, raised a body of Tory followers, 
and with them fled to Canada. Out of these refugees, he raised a 
corps of rangers called Royal Greens, with whom he joined St. 
Leger, in the hope of crushing out his enemies in the valley. 



XI. 

OUR ARMY ADVANCES. 

We remember that the united voice of the army 
and people had demanded the recall of those generals 
whose want of foresi2:ht or enero^y, or both, „ , , 

t> fc>^ ' » Refer to 

had caused the disasters with which the chapter v., 
campaign had opened. Congress chose Gen- "Fa""e 

^ =* ^ . ° Disaster." 

eral Gates ^ to command in room of Schuyler, 
who, with St. Clair, was ordered to report at head- 
quarters. With the methods of travel then in use, 
Gates was nearlv two weeks in gettinsr from 

. . Aug. 4. 

Philadelphia to Albany. This fact will suffi- 
ciently illustrate the difficulties which attended the 
movement of reenforcements from one army to another, 
before the day of railwayis and steamboats. 

All that lay in the power of man to do, Washington 
had done for the Northern army. Though fronting an 
enemy greatly superior to himself, he had still found 
time to so direct operations in the North, that his hand 
may almost be said to have guided the course of events 
in that quarter. He had soothed Schuyler's wounded 
self-love, commended his efforts, strengthened his hands 
in the field, and nobly stood between him and his 
detractors in Congress. When Congress had sus- 
pended all the generals of the Northern army from 

95 



96 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

command, it was Washington who interposed to save 
them and the army from the consequences of such 
blindness and folly. To Schuyler he had said, " Bur- 
goyne is doing just what we could wish ; let him but 
continue to scatter his army about, and his ruin is only 
a question of time." Schuyler urgently called for more 
troops. Brigade after brigade had gone from Wash- 
ington's own army to swell Schuyler's ranks. " I care 
not where the victory is won, so we do but gain it," 
Washington said. Schuyler again pleaded his want 
of general officers. Washington sent him Arnold, the 
dare-devil of the army, and Lincoln, a man of sound 
head, steady hand, and even temper, as a counterpoise 
to Arnold's over-confident and impetuous nature. 
Thanks to these efforts, we had created a new army on 
the ruins of the old. 

Schuyler's deportment toward the Massachusetts 
authorities at this time was neither conciliatory nor 
conducive to the interests of the service. He knew 
their feelings of distrust toward him, and in making 
application to them for reenforcements showed his 
resentment in a way that called forth an acrimonious 
response. He upbraided them for their shortcomings ; 
they entreated him to look nearer home. Thus we 
find General Schuyler and the Massachusetts Council 
engaged in an exchange of sarcasms at a time when the 
exigency called for something besides a war of words 
between the commander of an army and the executive 
head of a powerful State. 

Gates took command just after the Battle of Ben- 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 9/ 

nington was won. He found the army in much dis- 
order, but pleased with the change of commanders. 
Gates was a thorough discipHnarian and organ- ^^^ ^^ 
izer. In his hands, the efficiency of the army 
daily increased. Old jealousies were silenced, and 
confidence restored. Letters from the soldiers show 
the change in temper and spirit to have been instant 
and marked. One of them says, " When we came to 
Albany, things looked very dark for our side, for there 
were officers in town who had left camp, and would 
not go back as long as Schuyler had the command. 
Both officers and soldiers were determined not to fight 
under him, and would tell him so to his head. But 
General Gates came to town, and then the tune was 
turned, and every face showed a merry heart." 

The hostile armies now lay, quietly gathering up 
their strength for the decisive struggle, within sound 
of each other's evening guns. 

Gates was the first to act. Having been joined by 
Morgan's rifle corps,^ and by large numbers of militia, 
the whole army now moved up to Stillwater, ^^ ^ 
within a dozen miles of the enemy, who still 
remained intrenched behind the Batten Kill. This 
movement put new life into our soldiers, and was not 
without its effect upon the enemy, whose spirit was 
aroused at finding the antagonist it had been pursu- 
ing suddenly become the aggressor. The Americans 
had a well-served though not numerous artillery, but 
the presence of Morgan's corps more than made good 
any deficiency in this respect. The great drawback 



98 BURGOYNE'S INVASION- 

to the efficiency of the army was the want of cordial- 
ity between Gates and Arnold. The breach between 
them was daily widening that was presently to become 
an impassable gulf. 

Gates purposed taking up a strong position, and 
awaiting Burgoyne's attack behind his intrench ments. 
Either' Burgoyne must risk an assault, under conditions 
most favorable to the Americans, or retire discomfited 
under conditions highly unfavorable to a successful 
retreat. 

The country between Saratoga and Stillwater, cov- 
ered with woods and intersected by ravines, was wholly 
unsuited to the free movement of troops. All the shore 
of the Hudson is high ground, rising to a nearly uniform 
level next the river, but gradually ascending, as the 
river is left, to the summit of the streams falling into it. 
Long slopes or terraces are thus formed, furrowed here 
and there by the ravines, which serve to drain off the 
water from above into the river below. Puny rivulets 
where they begin, these watercourses cut deeper as 
they run on, until, at the river, they become impassable 
gulches. The old military road skirts the foot of the 
heights, which sometimes abut closely upon the river, 
and sometimes draw back far enough to leave a strip of 
meadow between it and them. 

Kosciusko,^ Gates's engineer, chose the ground on 

which to receive Burj^^ovne's attack, at one 
Sept. 12. , , , , f , . 1 J 

of these places where the heights crowd upon 

the river, thus forming a narrow defile, w'hich a hand- 
ful of men could easily defend against an army. At 



BUKGOYNE'S INVASION 99 

this place the house of a settler named Bemis stood 
by the roadside. Our army filed ofiE the road here, to 
the left, scaled the heights, and encamped Bemis' 
along a ridge of land, running west as far as Heights, 
some high, rough, and woody ground, which formed 
the summit. 

Except two or three clearings, all the ground in 
Gates's front was thickly wooded. One settler, called 
Freeman, had cleared and planted quite a Freeman's 
large field in front of the American centre Farm, 
and left, though at some distance beyond, and hid 
from view by intervening woods. This field of Free- 
man's was one of the few spots of ground lying 
between the two armies, on which troops could be ma- 
noeuvred or artillery used with advantage. The farm- 
house stood at the upper edge of it, at a distance of a 
mile back from the river. Our pickets immediately 
took post there, as no one could enter the clearing 
without being: seen from the house. Accident has thus 
made this spot of ground. Freeman's Farm,* 
famous. The Americans were at work like 
beavers, strengthening their line with redoubts, felled 
trees, and batteries, when the enemy was discovered 
marching against them. 

1 General Gates had resigned his command at Ticonderoga, 
rather than serve under Schuyler. There was no good feeling 
between them. 

2 Morgan's Riflemen was the most celebrated corps of the 
Continental Army. The men were unerring marksmen, and on 
that account greatly feared by the British. All were expert 



lOO BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

woodsmen, devoted to their leader, who held them under strict 
discipline. 

3 Thaddeus Kosciusko came to this country to offer his 
services to Congress. " What can you do?" asked Washington. 
" Try me," was the laconic reply. In course of time, he was sent 
to Schuyler as engineer of his army. 

4 Freeman's House was made use of by Burgoyne, during the 
battle of September 9, as his headquarters. After this battle it 
was included within the British lines. 



XII. 

BATTLE OF BEMIS' HEIGHTS.^ 

{September 19, 1777.) 

BuRGOYNE, at Batten-Kill, had only a choice of evils 
to make. Either he could save his army by retreating 
to Fort Edward, and thus give up all hope of seeing 
the ends of the campaign fulfilled, or he might still 
make a bold push for Albany, and so put everything at 
the hazard of battle. 

But to fall back when he had promised to go for- 
ward, when the doing so meant ruin to his reputation, 
and possibly to the cause of his king, was not only a 
bitter alternative, but a responsibility heavier than he 
was prepared to take. 

On the other hand, should he now cross the Hudson, 
with intent to bring on a decisive battle, — and his 
crossing meant just this, — Burgoyne knew that he 
must drop his communications with Canada, because 
he could not afford the guards necessary to keep them 
open. Already he had been weakened by the loss of 
more than fifteen hundred men, without counting the 
Indians who had so basely deserted him ; St. Leger had 
failed him in his utmost need. On his left, the Americans 
were watching their chance to strike a blow in his rear. 
Burgoyne therefore felt that, from the moment he should 

lOI 



I02 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

put the Hudson between his army and its only way of 
retreat, all must be staked on the doubtful issue of 
battle. He decided to make the gambler's last throw, 

Burgoyne himself has said that his orders left him 
no choice but to go on. It is evident he construed 
them to his own wishes. He still believed his six thou- 
sand excellent soldiers, with their superb artillery, would 
prove themselves more than a match for twice their 
own number of undisciplined yeomanry. He would not 
admit even the possibility of defeat. He felt confident 
of beating Gates with ease. 

In choosing to fight, rather than retreat, Burgoyne, 
perhaps, acted from the impulse of a brave nature, 
rather than the promptings of his sober judgment, as 
he was bound to do ; since he had known for some 
time that Sir William Howe had gone to Pennsylvania, 
without making any definite preparations to come to 
his assistance. Notwithstanding this assurance, that a 
most important part of the plan of campaign had failed, 
through no fault of his, Burgoyne seems to have put his 
trust in the chapter cf accidents, rather than remain 
inactive until it was certain he would be supported 
from New York. Not one solitary circumstance, except 
faith in the valor of his troops, favored a further ad- 
vance at this time. But his gallant little army was 
ready to follow him, the' enemy was within striking 
distance, and so Burgoyne marched on, bemoaning his 
ill luck, but with the pluck characteristic of the man. 

On the thirteenth the British army crossed the Hudson, 
by a bridge of boats, to Saratoga. Burgoyne took with 




EURGOYNE S ORDER OF BATTLE. 

19th September. 

[Pen aud ink sketch hy a British officer. ] 

A, The Line Formed. B, The Columns in March. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 105 

him provisions for five weeks, which were loaded in 
bateaux and floated down the river as he advanced. 
As yet he knew comparatively nothing of what prepara- 
tions the Americans were making to receive him, and 
but little about the country he was in. But he did 
know that the patriot army had at last faced about, and 
that was enough to rouse the spirit of his soldiers to 
the highest pitch. 

On the fifteenth the British Army began its march 
southward in three divisions. The only road had to be 
given up to the baggage and artillery. To pro- 
tect it, the left, or German division, marched 
along the meadows, next the river. The centre, or 
British division, kept the heights above ; while Frazer's 
corps moved at some distance, on the right of it, with 
Breyman's following just behind in support. Two divis- 
ions were therefore marching on the heights, and one 
underneath them. 

What with the delays caused by broken bridges on 
the road, bridging the ravines on the heights, or for- 
cino^ a way through thick woods, which it was 

1 ... Sept. 17. 

necessary always to reconnoitre with care, — 
the royal army could get over but six miles in two days. 
Being then near the enemy, a halt was made to prepare 
for battle. 

On this da}', Burgoyne continued his march in the 
same order as before, with skirmishers thrown out well 
in advance of each column. The centre, 
which he directed in person, would, in follow- ' ^" 
ing the direction it was taking, very shortly find itself 
at Freeman's Farm. 



I06 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

On bis part, Gates had sent out Morgan's rifle corps 
to feel the enemy, in order to learn what they were 
doing or intending to do. Morgan had advanced as far 
as our outpost at Freeman's house, when the British 
skirmishers came out of the woods into the clearing. 
They were instantly fired upon and returned the fire. 
It was therefore here that the action of September 19 
began. 

Morgan's hot fire soon drove the enemy back to 
cover again, with loss. Our riflemen dashed into the 
woods after them, got into disorder, and, before they 
were aware, fell upon the supporting battalions, by 
whom they were defeated and scattered, in their turn. 
This division then advanced into the clearing, from 
which by this time the Americans had decamped. 
Burgoyne thus gained the ground about Freeman's 
house, whence his pickets were first attacked and 
driven in. 

At this place, Burgoyne formed his line, facing 
towards the woods into which Morgan's men had 
retreated. He rightly judged the enemy to be there, 
though threats failed to extort any information from 
the prisoners he had taken. When Frazer told one of 
Morgan's captains he would hang him up to the nearest 
tree, unless he would point out the place where his 
comrades were posted, the man undauntedly replied, 
" You may, if you please." 

Knowing that Gates could not be attacked on his 
right, Burgoyne meant to make the trial on the left. 
If that wing could be turned. Gates would have to 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION lO/ 

retreat from his works, or be driven into the river. 
This was all the simple plan of attack, but as yet, 
Burgoyne did not know where the American left was 
posted. The woods effectually masked the American 
position, and all was now quiet. 

Burgoyne now prepared to go forward again. From 
what had just taken place, he supposed the troops 
now with him would strike the Anierican line first. It 
was' therefore arranged that when he became fully 
engaged, Frazer was to charge the American flank, and 
crush it, making the centre division his pivot. With 
his right, Burgoyne meant to turn the American left. 

Buro:ovne had with him four battalions of the line, 
and four guns. He would .have brought more guns if 
more could have been used with effect in the woods, 
as he greatly relied upon this arm. Frazer had twenty 
companies of grenadiers and light infantry, the^ 24th 
British regiment, Breyman's Germans, and all the 
Canadians, loyalists, and Indians now left with the 
army; he also had four pieces of artillery. About 
four thousand men were thus in readiness to engage. 
The left wing was now in motion along the river road, 
under the heights, but was too far off to be of much 
use in reenforcing the right. It was, however, of 
service in preventing Gates from sending troops away 
from his right, to fight Burgoyne on the left. 

Though Burgoyne did not know the American posi- 
tion, which thick woods everywhere masked from his 
view, he had disclosed his own very clearly to Morgan, 
who sent an urgent request for reenforcements. 



I08 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

Gates wished to receive the attack in his works, not 
make one himself. He therefore ordered only one or 
two battalions from his left to go to Morgan's assist- 
ance, and withstood the entreaties of his officers to 
be allowed to meet the enemy in the open field. 

At between two and three o'clock, as Burgoyne had 
just finished his dispositions for attacking, a heavy fire 
broke from the woods in Frazer's front. This came 
from Morgan and the troops sent to his support. 
Making no impression on Frazer, whose cannon held 
them in check, the assailants suddenly shifted their 
attack over to the left, where Burgoyne commanded in 
person. And thus it was that, instead of attacking, 
Burgoyne found himself assaulted ; instead of turning 
Gates's left, his own was being assailed, with the pur- 
pose of separating the two wings of his army. 

On, finding a battle actually in progress, Gates 
reenforced the troops who were fighting against odds, 
with driblets of a regiment at a time. Instead of going 
on the field himself, or letting Arnold go,^ he pretended 
to believe that his own right was the real object of 
attack, and kept in his quarters. This day's battle was 
therefore fought wholly by his subordinates, against 
the British general-in-chief, seconded by his ablest 
lieutenants. 

Having found the enemy's left, the Americans chiefly 
turned their attention to that flank, as has just been 
said. The 62d British regiment was posted here with 
two guns. This flank was crushed, and its artillery 
silenced by a superior fire. Its defeat caused the 



=t I > 1 1 ' » <^^ 0^ 







n |;20'•. 



l « < • 
111*' 



^ ^ PoU/f/on 




yman 



FIRST BATTLE OF BEMIS' HEIGHTS. 

[Pen and ink sketch by a British officer. '\ 

A, Americans Attacking. B, British Positions. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION III 

whole British line to give way, leaving part of their 
artillery in our hands. 

So far the battle had gone in our favor. Any demon- 
stration from our right, upon the enemy's left, would, 
unquestionably, have rendered the victory complete. 
As nothing of the kind was attempted, the British were 
able to bring up reenforcements from that wing, with- 
out opposition, and the golden opportunity was lost. 

From the river road, Riedesel, by making a round- 
about march, brought two of his regiments into action. 
Phillips hurried with four guns taken from the reserve 
artillery to the front. Frazer turned part of his force 
upon the American flank, thus relieving Burgoyne from 
the pressure laid upon him, and enabling him to form 
a second line. When this was done, the whole British 
force advanced again as far as their first position, 
while the Americans, for want of fresh troops to meet 
them, were compelled to fall back under cover of the 
woods again. The combat had now lasted four hours. 
Darkness put an end to it, nearly on the spot where it 
had begun. The British were indeed masters of the 
field ; but instead of attacking, they had always been 
attacked, and instead of advancing, they had been 
everywhere stopped; their artillery alone had saved 
them from defeat. Our army lost three hundred and 
nineteen killed and wounded ; the British, more than five 
hundred, —the difference being due to superior marks- 
manship. Our losses could easily be made good ; the 
British could not. All the real advantages, therefore, 
were clearly on the side of the Americans. 



112 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

1 Battle of Bemis' Heights. Bemis' Heights formed part of 
the American position, but not of the battle-ground. Freeman's 
Farm would have been a more accurate designation. Stillwater 
locates it anywhere within a township of many miles in extent. 

"^ Arnold's Part in this battle has been long a matter of dis- 
pute. Gates was jealous of him because he was the idol of his 
soldiers. Arnold had no high opinion of Gates. After Arnold 
turned traitor, every one seems to have thought it a duty to give 
him a kick. This feeling is unfortunately conspicuous in the only 
detailed account from the American side we have of this battle, 
which was written by Wilkinson, Gates's adjutant-general, and 
given to the world nearly forty years (1816) afterwards. Wilkin- 
son seems to have fully shared his commander's likes and dislikes, 
and has treated Arnold shabbily. The battle was almost wholly 
fought by Arnold's division, and it is equally incompatible with 
his duty and temper to suppose he would have remained in camp 
when his troops were engaged, though he was probably held back 
until a late hour in the day. 



XIII. 
Lincoln's raid in burgoyne's rear. 

Much to Burgoyne's chagrin, he had been obhged 
to garrison Ticonderoga with troops taken from his own 
army, instead of being allowed to draw upon those left 
in Canada, under command of General Carleton. 
About a thousand men were thus deducted from the 
force now operating on the Hudson. 

Ever since the battle of Bennington, Lincoln had 
been most industriously gathering in, and organizing 
the militia, at Manchester. All New England was now 
up, and her sons were flocking in such numbers to his 
camp, that Lincoln soon found himself at the head of 
about two thousand excellent militia. 

Guided by the spirit of Washington's instructions, 
he now determined on making an effort to break up 
Burgoyne's communications, capture his magazines, 
harass his outposts, and, perhaps, even throw himself 
on the British line of retreat. There is a refreshing 
boldness and vigor about the conception, something 
akin to real generalship and enterprise. It was a 
good plan, undertaken without Gates's knowledge or 
consent. 

On the same day that Burgoyne was crossing the 

"3 



114 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

Hudson, Lincoln sent five hundred men to the head of 
Lake George, with orders to destroy the stores there ; 
five hundred more to attack Ticonderoga ; 
and another five hundred to Skenesborough, 
to support them in case of need. Unknown to Lincoln, 
Burgoyne had now wholly dropped his communications 
with the lakes, but these movements were no less 
productive of good results on that account. 

The first detachment, under command of Colonel 
Brown,^ reached Lake George landing undiscovered. 
The blockhouse and mills there were instantly taken. 
Mount Defiance and the French lines at Ticonderoga'* 
virere next carried without difficulty. In these opera- 
tions. Brown took three hundred prisoners, released over 
one hundred Americans from captivity, and destroyed 
a great quantity of stores. 

The second detachment having, meantime, come up 
before Mount Independence, Ticonderoga was cannon- 
aded, for some time, without effect. Unlike St. Clair, 
the British commander would neither surrender nor 
retreat, even when the guns of Mount Defiance were 
turned against him. 

Failing here, the Americans next went up Lake 
George, to attack Burgoyne's artillery depot, at Dia- 
mond Island. They were not more successful in this 
attempt, as the enemy was strongly fortified and made 
a vigorous defence. After burning the enemy's boats 
on the lake, Brown returned to Skenesborough. 

General Lincoln was about to march from Skenes- 
borough to Fort Edward, with seven hundred men, 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION II5 

when he received a pressing request from Gates, dated 
on the morning of the battle, to join him at once. 

Abandoning, therefore, his own plans, Lincoln 
retraced his steps with so much speed, that he arrived 
in Gates's camp^ on the twenty-second. Gates imme- 
diately gave him command of the right wing * of the 
army. 

The road between Skenesborough and Fort Edward 
was now constantly patrolled by parties of American 
militia; so that it was truly said of Burgoyne, that the 
gates of retreat were fast closing behind him. 

1 Colonel John Brown, of Pittsfield, Mass., — who had been 
with Allen at the taking of Ticonderoga in 1775, and with Mont- 
gomery at Quebec, — Colonels Warner, Woodbridge, and Johnson 
cooperated in this expedition. 

2 Ticonderoga was garrisoned at this time by one British and 
one German battalion, under command of General Powell. 

3 Gates's Camp. By this time, Gates also had connected his 
camp with the east, bank of the Hudson, by a floating bridge, to 
facilitate the crossing of reenforcements to him. 

* The Right Wing was composed of Nixon's, Glover's, and 
Patterson's Continental brigades, with a certain proportion of 
militia. The left wing of Poor's and Learned's brigades. Dear- 
born's Light Infantry, and Morgan's corps, with alike proportion 
of militia. 



.^ 



XIV. 

SECOND BATTLE OF FREEMAN's FARM. 

{October, 1777.) 

Convinced that another such victory would be his 
ruin, Burgoyne now thought only of defending himself 
until the wished-for help should come. To this end, he 
began intrenching the. ground on which he stood. The 
action of September 19 had, therefore, changed the 
relative situation of the antagonists, in that from being 
the assailant, Burgoyne was now driven to act wholly 
on the defensive. 

On the day following the battle, a courier brought 
Burgoyne the welcome news that forces from New 
York would soon be on the way to his relief. Word 
was instantly sent back that his army could hold its 
ground until the 12th of October, by which time it was 
not doubted that the relievins: force would be near 
enough at hand to crush Gates between two fires. 

Burgoyne, therefore, now threw his bridge across the 
Hudson again, posted a guard on the farther side, made 
At wiiber's his camp as strong as possible, and waited 

Basin. \^\\\\ growing impatience for the sound of 
Sir Henry Clinton's ^ cannon to be heard in the 
distance. But Clinton did not move to Burgoyne's 
assistance until too late. The blundering of the War 

116 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 11/ 

Office hnd worked its inevitable results. By the time 
Clinton reached Tarrytown, thirty miles above New 
York, Burgoyne's army had been put on short 
rations. With the utmost economy the provis- 
ions could not be made to last much beyond the day 
fixed in Burgoyne's despatch. Foraging was out of 
the question. Nothing could be learned about Clinton's 
progress. All between the two British armies was such 
perilous ground, that several officers had returned un- 
successful, after making heroic efforts to reach Clinton's 
camp. 

While Burgoyne was thus anxiously looking forward 
to Clinton's energetic cooperation, that officer sup- 
posed he was only making a diversion in Burgoyne's 
favor, a feint to call off the enemy's attention from 
him ; and thus it happened that in the decisive hour of 
the war, and after the signal had been given, only one 
arm was raised to strike, because two British com- 
manders acted without unison ; either through miscon- 
ception of the orders they had received, or of what 
was expected of them in just such an emergency as the 
one that now presented itself. 

Perhaps two armies have seldom remained so near 
together for so long a time without coming to blows, as 
the two now facing each other on the heights of Still- 
water. The camps being little more than a mile apart, 
brought the hostile pickets so close together, that men 
strayed into the opposite lines unawares. Day and 
night there was incessant firing from the outposts, 
every hour threatened to bring on a battle. Half Bur- 



Il8 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

goyne's soldiers were constantly under arms to repel 
the attack, which — in view of the desperate condition 
they found themselves placed in, of the steady progress 
from bad to worse — was rather hoped for than feared. 

Two weeks passed thus without news of Clinton. 
Burgoyne's provisions were now getting alarmingly low. 
If he staid where he was, in a few days, at most, he 
would be starved into surrendering. Again the ominous 
word " retreat " was heard around the camp-fires. The 
hospital was filled with wounded men. Hard duty and 
scant food were telling on those fit for duty. Lincoln's 
raid announced a new and dangerous complication. 
It was necessary to try something, for Gates's do-nothing 
policy was grinding them to powder. 

A council was therefore crJled. It is a maxim, as 
old as history, that councils of war never fight. Some 
of Burgoyne's generals advised putting the Hudson 
between themselves a^nd Gates, as the only means now 
left of saving the army ; none, it is believed, advo- 
cated risking another battle. 

Burgoyne could not bring himself to order a retreat 
without first making one miore effort for victory. He 
dwelt strongly upon the difficulty of withdrawing the 
army in the face of so vigilant and powerful an enemy. 
He maintained his own opinion that even in order to 
secure an honorable retreat it would be necessary to 
fight, and it was so determined. 

It is evident that Burgoyne nourished a secret hope 
that fortune might yet take a turn favorable to him ; 
otherwise, it is impossible to account for his making 



BURGO YNE 'S INVASION I 1 9 

this last and most desperate effort, under conditions 
even less favorable than had attended his attack of the 
19th of September. 

Fifteen hundred men and ten guns were chosen for 
the attempt. In plain language, Burgoyne started out 
to provoke a combat with an enemy greatly his superior 
in numbers, with less than half the force his former 
demonstration had been made with. His idea seems 
to have been to take up a position from which his 
cannon would reach the American works. After in- 
trenching, it was his intention to bring up his heavy 
artillery, and open a cannonade which he was confident 
the enemy could not withstand, as their defensive works 
were chiefly built of logs. And out of this state of 
things, Burgoyne hoped to derive some substantial 
benefit. 

This plan differed from that of the 19th of Sep- 
tember, in that it looked chiefly to obtaining a more 
advantageous position ; while on the former occasion it 
was attempted to force a way through or around the 
American left. The lesson of that day had not been 
lost on Burgoyne, who now meant to utilize his artillery 
to the utmost, rather than risk the inevitable slaughter 
that must ensue from an attempt to carry the American 
lines by storm. 

Everything depended upon gaining the desired posi- 
tion before the Americans could make their dispositions 
to thwart the attempt. 

The importance to the army of this movement in- 
duced Burgoyne to call his three best generals to his 



I20 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

aid: so that nothing that experience could suggest, or 
skill attempt, should be left undone. It was kept a 
profound secret till the troops who were going out to 
fight were actually under arms. The rest of the army 
was to remain in the works; so that, if worst came to 
worst, the enemy might not reap any decided advan- 
tage from a victory gained over the fighting corps. 

It was near one o'clock, on the afternoon of the 
seventh, when Burgoyne marched out from his own 

risfht, toward the American left. He had 
Oct. 7. 

reached an eminence risins: at the rig^ht of 

the late battle-ground, and not far removed from Fra- 

zer's position on that day, when the pickets of Arnold's 

division discovered his approach, and gave the alarm. 

Having gained a favorable position for using his guns, 

Burgoyne halted, and formed his line. 

Upon hearing that the British had advanced to 
within half a mile of his left, and were offering bat- 
tle. Gates decided to accept the challenge, as he now 
felt strong enough to do so without fear for the result, 
and the behavior of his own troops in the previous 
battle had been such as to put an end to his doubts 
about their ability to cope with British soldiers. Mor- 
gan was therefore ordered to make a deiour through 
the woods, and fall on the British right flank, while 
other troops were attacking on its left. 

These movements were gallantly executed. At three 
o'clock, Burgoyne's artillery opened the battle ; at 
four, the Americans charged the British position under 
a heavy fire of cannon and musketry. Again and again, 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 121 

the Continentals met the British bayonet without flinch- 
ing. Never was a battle more manfully fought. Bur- 
goyne faced death like the meanest soldier in the ranks. 
After some discharges, the British cannoneers were shot 
down at their pieces, and the hill on which they stood 
was carried at the point of the bayonet. 

On his part, Morgan grappled with the British right, 
overthrew it after a fierce struggle, and drove it back 
upon the centre. In vain Frazer "^ tried to stem the tide 
of defeat by throwing himself into the thickest of the 
fight. "That man," said Morgan, pointing him out to 
his marksmen, " must die." A rifle bullet soon gave 
the gallant Scot his death wound, and he was led from 
the field. 

The combat had lasted scarce an hour. All Bur- 
goyne's guns were taken. Of the fifteen hundred 
soldiers he had led into action, four hundred lay dead 
or dying around him. Frazer's fall had carried dismay 
among those who were still stubbornly yielding the 
ground to the victorious Americans. A retreat was 
sounded. The Americans followed on with loud 
shouts. For a few moments a rearguard fight was 
kept up, then the retreat became a rout, the rout a 
race, to see who should first reach the British lines. 

Thus far the action had been maintained on our 
part, by the same troops who had fought the battle of 
September 19, and in part on the same ground. It was 
now to be transferred to the enemy's own camp. 

Hardly had the British gained the shelter of their 
works, when the Americans, led on by Arnold, stormed 



122 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

them with reckless bravery. Gates had held Arnold 
back from the field from motives of envy and dislike ; 
but Arnold, to whom the sound of battle was like the 
spur to the mettled courser, at last broke through all 
restraint. Leaping into the saddle, he spurred into 
the thickest of the fight before Gates could stop him. 

The point of attack was strongly defended by artil- 
lery, and the Americans here suffered their first repulse. 
Other troops came up. The assault soon began again 
all along the British line. Beaten off in one place, 
Arnold spurred over to the enemy's extreme right, 
where Breyman was posted behind a breastwork of 
logs and rails, that formed a right angle with the rest 
of the line. Calling on the nearest battalion to follow 
him, Arnold leaped his horse over the parapet. The 
Germans fired one volley and fled. Our troops took 
guns and prisoners. By this success they had gained 
an opening on Burgoyne's right and rear, precisely as 
he had meant to do by them. In this last assault 
Breyman was killed, and Arnold wounded. 

The day was now too far spent for further .efforts to 
be made on either side. Little by little, the angry roll 
of musketry sunk into silence. The battle was over. 

1 Sir Henry Clinton then commanded at New York, under 
the orders of Sir William Howe. Not having received orders to 
"assist Burgoyne in any event, until he was about to engage with 
Washington for the possession of Philadelphia, Howe turned over 
the matter of assisting Burgoyne to Clinton, who was compelled 
to wait for the arrival of fresh troops, then on the way from Eng- 
land, before he could organize an expedition to attack our posts in 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION- 1 23 

the Highlands of the Hudson. See Introduction; also Note i, 
" Facing Disaster " (p. 60). 

2 General Simon Frazer was of Scotch birth, younger son 
of Frazer of Balnain. His actual rank on joining Burgoyne was 
lieutenant-colonel, 24th foot. With other field officers assigned to 
command brigades, he was made acting brigadier, and is therefore 
known as General Frazer, though Burgoyne was notified that this 
local rank would cease when his army joined Sir William Howe. 
Frazer's remains were disinterred and taken to England. The 
spot where he was wounded is marked by a monument, and in- 
dicates where he endeavored to make a stand after being driven 
from his first position. Anburey and Madame Riedesel give 
graphic accounts of his death and burial. 



XV. 

RETREAT AND SURRENDER. 

BuRGOYNE had been everywhere foiled by the battle 
of the seventh. Instead of turning Gates's flank his 
own had been turned. Instead of thrusting Gates 
back upon the river, he would surely be forced there 
himself, in a few hours, at most. Instead, even, of 
dealing Gates such a blow as would favor a retreat, Bur- 
goyne's situation was now more precarious than ever: it 
was more than precarious ; it was next to hopeless. 

It is again but too plain that Burgoyne had not taken 
defeat — such a defeat — seriously into account, or he 
would never have led out that gallant little column of 
fifteen hundred men ; first, for victory, then, for an hon- 
orable retreat. His army was now like the wounded 
lion, whose expiring struggles the hunter watches at a 
distance, without fear, and without danger. All had 
been lost but honor. 

The first and only thing to be done now was promptly 
to form a new line of defence, behind which the army 
could mask its retreat. This was skilfully and quietly 
done on the night after the battle, our troops not 
attempting to do more than hold the ground already 
won. In the morning they occupied the deserted 
works. 

124 










i%y 









a/i/ryw 



t' 






iJcir. 






77? •' 



\ 



^d'rMJUU^ 



THE RETREAT TO SARATOGA. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 12/ 

Burgoyne's ne\y position stretched along the heights 
next the river, so as to cover the road to Saratoga. He 
had merely drawn back his centre and right, while his 
left wing remained stationary ; and he now stood facing 
west, instead of south, as before the battle. 

The day passed in skirmishing, reconnoitring, and 
artillery firing. The Americans were feeling their way 
along the enemy's new front, while Burgoyne's ^^^ ^ 
every effort was limited to keeping them at a 
distance, with his superior artillery, till night. On our 
side, his intentions were rather guessed than certainly 
known. His great problem was how to get his army 
over the Hudson undiscovered. It was supposed that 
he would attempt to retreat across his bridge as soon as 
it was dark. Our artillery, therefore, tried to destroy 
it with shot. Moreover, fourteen hundred men were 
crossed over to the east bank, and now stood ready to 
dispute Burgoyne's passage from that side of the river. 

At sunset. General Frazer was buried ^ inside a bat- 
tery, on the brow of the heights, according to his dying 
wish. Chaplain Brudenell read the burial service, with 
our balls ploughing up the earth around him, and our can- 
non thundering the soldier's requiem from camp to camp. 

At nine o'clock, the British army began its retreat 
along the river road, leaving its camp-fires burning 
behind it; profound silence was enjoined. To avoid 
confusion, the different corps simply moved off in the 
order in which they stood on the lines, or by their right. 
Upon finding that his crossing would be opposed by 
the troops who had passed over to the east bank, 



128 B URGO YNE '6* INVASION 

Burgoyne had decided to go back the way he came as 
far as Saratoga, and on fording the river at that place. 
Orders were therefore given to destroy the bridge. Just 
before day, his rearguard set fire to it, and marched off 
without interference. All the sick and wounded were 
left behind. 

In view of the fact that all of the enemy's move- 
ments announced a rapid retreat, the Americans seem 
to have shown a want of vigor in pushing the advantages 
they had won by the late battles. This hesitation may 
be in part accounted for by the other fact that both 
Arnold and Lincoln were disabled. Lincoln had been 
wounded while reconnoitring the enemy's right, on the 
eighth, with a view of passing a force round in his rear. 
Gates was thus deprived of his most efBcient lieuten- 
ants at the moment when they were most needed. The 
British army could hardly have been placed in a more 
critical position ; but, by keeping up a bold front, it 
managed to extricate itself without the loss of a man. 

Rain began falling early the next morning, Burgoyne 
had marched but six miles, yet dallied till afternoon on 

the spot where he had halted early in the 
Oct. 9. .... 

day. He then saw, to his inexpressible dis- 
may, the same body of Americans^ whom he had 
seen opposite his encampment at Stillwater, now march- 
^ injr abreast of him, with the evident design of 

Dovegat, * ' " 

now seizing the Saratoga ford before he could get 
Coveviiie. ^^ j^^ 'pj^g \o'^^ he meant to take was, there- 
fore, already as good as in the enemy's hands. 

The discovery that he was being everywhere hemmed 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 1 29 

in hastened Burgoyne's departure. Much baggage and 
many wagons and tents were burned, in order that the 
army might march the faster. Like a ship, laboring 
with the gale, it was relieving itself of all unnecessary 
burdens. 

Pelted by the storm, in silence, and with downcast 
looks, the soldiers plodded wearily on, through mud and 
water, ankle deep. No tap of drum or bugle-call put 
life into their heavy tread. The sense of defeat and 
disgrace brooded over the minds of officers and men, 
as they stole away in darkness and gloom from an 
enemy for whom they had but lately felt such high 
disdam. Grief, shame, and indignation were the com-; 
mon lot of high and low. No word was spoken, except 
when the curt " Forward " of the officers passed along 
the ranks. All knew instinctively, that this retreat was 
but the prelude to greater disaster, which, perchance, 
was not far off. 

The same evening, the bedraggled and footsore sol- 
diers waded the Fishkill ^ where the bridge had been, 
but was now destroyed, and bivouacked on the heights 
of Saratoga.* Too weary even to light fires, to dry their 
clothing, or cook their suppers, they threw themselves 
on the wet ground to snatch a few hours' sleep ; for, 
dark as it was, and though rain fell in torrents, the 
firing heard at intervals throughout the night told them 
that the Americans were dogging their footsteps, and 
would soon be up with them. It seemed as if the foe 
were never to be shaken off. 

It was not till after daylight that the British artillery 



I30 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

could ford the Fishkill with safety. The guns were 
then dragged up the heights and once more pointed 
toward the advancing enemy. Numbness 
and torpor seem to have pervaded the whole 
movement thus far. Now it was that Frazer's loss was 
most bitterly deplored, for he had often pledged himself 
to bring off the army in safety, should a retreat become 
necessary. He had marked out, and intrenched this 
very position, in which the army now found its last 
retreat. Almost twenty-four hours had been consumed 
in marching not quite ten miles, or at a much slower 
rate of progress than Burgoyne had censured Breyman 
for making to Baum's relief, at Bennington. Burgoyne 
seemed to find satisfaction in showing that he would not 
be hurried. 

The army took up its old positions along the heights 
into which the Fishkill cuts deeply, as it runs to the 
Hudson. Being threatened in front, flank, and rear, 
Burgoyne had to form three separate camps, facing as 
many different ways. One fronted the Fishkill and 
commanded the usual fording-place. A second looked 
east at the enemy posted across the Hudson ; a third 
faced the west, where the ground rose above the camps, 
and hid itself in a thick forest. 

Though he secured his camps as well as he could, 
Burgoyne meant to make no delay here. But it was 
no longer in his power to control his own acts. The 
want of energy shown in the retreat had given the 
Americans time to close every avenue of escape against 
him. 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 131 

Let us note how the fate of armies is decided. Active 
pursuit did not begin until the morning of the ninth, 
when the retreat was first discovered. A start of ten 
hours had thus been gained by the British. Their 
artillery had so cut up the roads as to render them 
next to impassable for our troops. Frequent halts had 
to be made to mend broken bridges. From these 
causes, even so late as the morning of the tenth, our 
army had advanced but three miles from the battle- 
ground. But Burgoyne had marched, when he marched 
at all, like a general who means to be overtaken. Four 
thousand men were being pushed around his right ; an 
equal number followed in his rear ; while fourteen hun- 
dred more menaced with destruction any attempt he 
might make to ford the river. 

No choice being left but to continue the retreat by 
the west bank, pioneers were sent out, under a strong 
escort, to make the road passable. 

But the golden moment had already flown. By this 
time Gates's van had come up with Burgoyne. Morgan's 
corps had crossed the Fishkill at a point above the 
British camps, had taken post within rifle-shot, and had 
thus fastened upon the enemy a grip never more to be 
shaken off. 

As a last resort, the British general decided to at- 
tempt a night retreat, leaving behind the artillery he 
had so persistently dragged after him when the fate of 
his army was hanging on its speed alone. Before this 
desperate venture could be put to trial, worse news 
came to hand. It was learned that Stark, with two 



132 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

thousand men, was in possession of Fort Edward, and 

of all the fords below it. Turn what way he would, 

Burgoyne found a foe in his path. 

Even General Burgoyne now saw no way open but 

surrender ; either he must do this, or let his soldiers 

be slauo-htered where they stood. Cannon and 
Oct. 13- .^ , , . 

ritie shot were searchmg every corner of his 

camp ; retreat was cut off ; his provisions could be made 
to last but a day or two longer at most ; the bateaux 
were destroyed ; his animals were dying of starvation, 
and their dead bodies tainting the air his soldiers 
breathed ; water could only be had at the risk of life or 
limb, as the xA.merican sharpshooters picked off every 
one who attempted to fetch it from the river; and no 
more than thirty-five hundred men could be mustered to 
repel an assault ; — a crisis had now been reached which 
loudly called on the British general, in the name of hu- 
manity, to desist from further efforts to maintain so 
hopeless a struggle. 

Burgoyne called his officers together in council. 
The absence of such men as Frazer, Baum, Breyman, 
Ackland, Clarke, and others from the meeting, must 
have brought home to the commanding general, as 
nothing else could, a sense of the calamities that had 
befallen him ; while the faces of the survivors no less 
ominously prefigured those to come. A heavy cannon- 
ade was in progress. Even while the council was delib- 
erating, a cannon-ball crashed through the room among 
them, as if to enjoin haste in bringing the proceedings 
to a close. The council listened to what was already 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 1 33 

but too well known. Already the finger of fate pointed 
undeviatingly to the inevitable result. A general lassi- 
tude had fallen upon the spirits of the soldiers. The 
situation was manifestly hopeless to all. 

There could be but one opinion. Enough had been 
done for honor. All were agreed that only a surrender 
could save the army. 

Without more delay, an officer was sent to General 
Gates At first " he would listen only to an uncon- 
ditional surrender. This was indio^nantlv 

^ Oct. 14. 

rejected. Two days of suspense followed to 
both armies. Indeed, the vanquished seemed dictat- 
ing terms to the conqueror. But if the British dreaded 
a renewal of hostilities, the Americans knew that Clin- 
ton's forces^ were nearing Albany from below. Gates 
lowered his demands. The British army was allowed 
the honors of war, with liberty to return to England, 
on condition of not serving against the United States 
during the war. These terms were agreed to, and the 
treaty was duly signed on the seventeenth. 

Burgoyne's situation when gathering up his trophies, 
and issuing his presumptuous proclamation at Ticon- 
deroga, compared with the straits to which his reverses 
had now brought him — a failure before his king and 
country, a captain stripped of his laurels by the hand 
he professed to despise, a petitioner for the clemency of 
his conqueror — affords a striking example of the un- 
certain chances of war. It really seemed as if fortune 
had only raised Burgoyne the higher in order that his 
fall might be the more destructive at last. 



134 BUR COYNE'S INVASION 

1 Frazer's Burial would not have been molested had our 
artillerists known what was going forward. Seeing so many 
persons collected in the redoubt, they naturally directed their fire 
upon it. 

2 This Body of Americans was led by Colonel John Fellows, 
whom Gates had ordered to seize the fords as high up as Fort 
Edward. 

3 FiSHKiLL, or Fish Creek, is the outlet of Saratoga Lake. 
Though a rapid mill-stream, there were several fords. The pre- 
cipitous banks were a greater obstacle to troops than the stream 
itself. 

* Heights of Saratoga are in what is now called Schuyler- 
ville, a village owing its prosperity to the water-power of the Fish- 
kill. At the time of the surrender, there were only a few houses 
strung along the river road. Schuyler's house stood in the angle 
formed by the entrance of the Fishkill into the Hudson. On 
arriving at Saratoga, Burgoyne occupied this house as his head- 
quarters, but burned it to the ground immediately on the appear- 
ance of the Americans. On the opposite (north) bank of the 
Fishkill was old Fort Hardy, built during the French War, to 
cover the ford of the Hudson at this place. Within this fort, 
Burgoyne's army laid down its arms, October 17, 1777. On the 
heights back of the river a granite obelisk, one hundred and fifty- 
four feet high, has been built to commemorate the event. 

s Clinton's Forces carried Forts Montgomery and Clinton, 
in the Highlands, by assault on the sixth. Having thus broken 
down all opposition to their advance up the Hudson, they reached 
Kingston (Esopus) on the thirteenth, burned it, and were within a 
few hours' sail of Albany when news of Burgoyne's surrender 
caused them to retreat down the river. 




WHERE THE SURRENDER TOOK PLACE. 



XVI. 

THE SEVENTEENTH OF OCTOBER, 1777. 

The closing scene of this most memorable cam- 
paign is thus described by one ot the actors in it. He 
says, — 

" About ten o'clock we marched out, according to 
treaty, with drums beating, and the honors of war; but 
the drums seemed to have lost their former inspiriting 
sounds, and though we beat the Grenadiers' March, 
which not long before was so animating, yet now it 
seemed by its last feeble effort as if almost ashamed to 
be heard on such an occasion. 

" I shall never forget the appearance of the Ameri- 
can troops on our marching past them. A dead silence 
reigned through their numerous columns. I must say 
their decent behavior to us, so greatly fallen, merited 
the utmost praise. . . . Not one of them was uniformly 
clad. Each had on the clothes he wore in the fields, 
the church, or the tavern ; they stood, however, like 
soldiers, well arranged, and with a military air, in which 
there was but little to find fault with. All the muskets 
had bayonets, and the sharpshooters had rifies. The 
men all stood so still that we were filled with wonder. 
Not one of them made a single motion as if he would 
speak with his neighbor. Nay, more, all the lads that 

^37 



138 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

Stood there in rank and file, kind nature had formed so 
trim, so slender, so nervous, that it was a pleasure 
to look at them, and we were all surprised at the sight 
of such a handsome, well- formed race. The whole 
nation has a natural turn for war and a soldier's life. 

" The generals wore uniforms, and belts which desig- 
nated their rank, but most of the colonels were in their 
ordinary clothes, with a musket and bayonet in hand, 
and a cartridge-box or powder-horn slung over the 
shoulder. There were regular regiments which, for 
want of time or cloth, were not yet equipped in uni- 
form. These had standards, with various emblems 
and mottoes, some of which had a very satirical mean- 
ing for us." 

The number of regular troops, British and German, 
who laid down their arms at Saratoga was 5,591. The 
camp-followers amounted to two hundred more. Forty- 
two pieces of artillery, nearly five thousand muskeis, 
with ammunition for both, fell into the victors' hands. 



XVII. 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF DEFEAT. 

We come now to the reasons why Biirgoyne's sur- 
render proved decisive to the cause of American inde- 
pendence. 

Our opening chapter states that England took Canada 
from France in 1759, ^"^ annexed it to her own domin- 
ions in 1763. This conquest came about through what 
is known in history as the Seven Years' War, which 
had not only raised all Europe in arms, but had lighted 
the flames of war throughout our own continent also. 
The great battle was fought on the plains of Quebec. 
Victory decided for England. Defeated France had, 
at last, to give-up Canada to her ancient enemy. 

France came out of this conflict sorely humbled. 
She was brooding over her defeat, when the American 
colonies took up arms. The colonists at once turned 
with confidence to France ; now was her chance to 
cripple England, to get back what she had lost, to gain 
the friendship of a grateful people, and make them her 
debtor for all time. But France would not go to war 
unless assured that her doing so would turn the scale 
against England. The memory of her humiliation was 
too recent, the chances of the contest too doubtful, to 
admit of any other course of conduct on her part. 

139 



140 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 



Meanwhile, she gave us much secret help, but none 
openly. The course of events was, however, closely 
watched, and when Burgoyne's surrender was known in 
Paris, it was seen that the day of revenge had come at 
last. Doubt and hesitation gave way before the general 
demand for war. Franklin was openly received at 
Versailles. Within three months, the French court 
had acknowledged our independence. Her armies and 
fleets prepared to give us active aid, and it was not 
doubted that her example would soon be followed by 
Spain and Holland. 

Thus, Burgoyne's surrender gained for us at once 
recognition as a nation, and the alliance of the first 
military power of Europe. 

The effect of the surrender in England is thus 
described by Gibbon, the historian, who was then 
sittins: in Parliament : " Dreadful news indeed ! An 
English army of nearly ten thousand men laid down 
their arms, and surrendered, prisoners of war, on 
condition of being sent to England, and of never serv- 
ing against America. They had fought bravely, and 
were three days without eating. Burgoyne is said to 
have received three wounds ; General Frazer, with two 
thousand men, killed ; Colonel Ackland likewise killed. 
A general cry for peace." 

England now gave up the colonies for lost. In truth, 
it needed no prophet to foretell that what England 
could not do before, she could do still less now, with 
France against her. From this time forward, the war 
was carried on more to save the nation's pride than 



BURGOYNE'S INVASION 141 

with any hope of success. The military policy under- 
went an instant change ; it now looked rather to de- 
stroying our commerce and ports, than to marching 
large armies into the interior of the country, to meet 
with a like fate to Burgoyne's. Howe was ordered to 
evacuate Philadelphia. In Parliament, a plan was 
hurriedly put forth to grant everything the Americans 
had asked for, except independence. As Gibbon well 
said, the two greatest countries of Europe were fairly 
running a race for the favor of America. 

The movements taking place on the continent showed 
everywhere a feeling hostile to England. No nation 
was ever so friendless as she, none had so richly 
deserved the coldness with which the other powers now 
treated her. Spain and Holland were getting ready to 
follow the lead of France. It was well known that 
England could not carry on the war without the aid of 
mercenaries. The King of Prussia and the Empress 
of Austria now refused to permit any more German 
soldiers to go to America. In the threatening condi- 
tion of affairs at home, England could not spare 
another army for so distant a field. Whichever way 
England looked, she saw either open enemies or half 
friends. Everywhere the sky was dark for her, and 
bright for us. 

At home the surrender of Burgoyne thrilled the 
whole land, for all felt it to be the harbinger of final 
triumph. The people went wild with joy ; salvos of 
artillery, toasts, bonfires, illuminations, everywhere testi- 
fied to the general exultation. The name of France 



142 BURGOYNE'S INVASION 

was hailed with acclamations. At once a sense of 
national dignity and solidity took the place of uncer- 
tainty and isolation. Now and henceforth, the flag of 
the United States was known and respected ; abroad as 
at home, on the sea as on the land. 

Burgoyne's disaster has been charged to the grossest 
carelessness on the part of some under official of the 
British War Office. It is said that the orders for Sir 
William Howe were never put in the despatch bag at 
all, but lay forgotten until the catastrophe at Saratoga 
brought them to light. On such trifles does the fate of 
nations sometimes hang. Certainly, greater unity of 
purpose in the two generals might have given the 
history of the campaign a different reading. But all 
such conjectures must fall before the inexorable logic 
of accomplished results. The world has long since 
passed upon the merits of the great conflict which set 
America free. Its verdict is recorded. The actors are 
but as dust in the balance. 



INDEX. 



Allen, Ethan, takes Ticonderoga, 17 ; 
goes before Montgomery, 19. 

Arnold, Benedict, marches to Can- 
ada, 19; takes command of our 
flotilla, and fights the enemy, 22 ; 
25, 7ioie ; sent to relieve Fort Stan- 
wix, and doss it by a stratagem, 92 ; 
part at Bemis' Heights, 112 ; storms 
the enemy's intrenchments, 121,122; 
wounded, 122. 

Batten-Kill, British take post at, 70, 

Baum, Frederic, commands British 
expedition to Bennington, and 
marches, 70; composition of his 
force, 70; hears the Americans are 
waiting for him, 75; notifies Bnr- 
goyne, and goas on, 75; discovers 
Stark, and intrenches himself on 
the Walloomsac, 78, 81; defeated, 

83, 132- ■ 

Bennington, Vt. ; Burgoyne's plan to 
seize stores at, 68 ; Baum marches 
for, 72 ; Battle of Bennington, 83, 

84, 85; trophies of, 85; 86, note; 
results of the battle, 88, 89. 

Bemis' Heights; position of the army 
described, 99 ; battle of September 
19, 106, 107, 108, II I ; 112, note. 

Bouquet River; Burgoyne halts at, 

Brant, Joseph, at Oriskany, 91 ; 94, 

note. 
Breyman, Heinrich C, posted in 

support of Baum, 70; marches to 

Baum's aid, 81 ; his slowness fatal 

to Baum. 84; defeated, and badly 

cut up, 85 ; his retreat to camp, 89 ; 

part in Battle of Bemis' Heights, 

105 ; killed, 122. 
Brown, John, attacks Ticonderoga, 

114; 115, note. 
Burgovne's Army, composition of, 33, 

34; passes Lake Champlain, 35; 

36, notes I and 2 ; invests Ticonder- 



oga, 40, 43 ; fights at Hubbardton, 
47, 48 ; at Fort Anne, 52 ; joined 
by loyalists, 61 ; concentrated, and 
leaves Skenesborough, 66; arrives 
at Fort Edward, 66 ; joined by sav- 
ages, 66 ; compelled to halt for 
provisions, 66, 69; is moved for- 
ward to support the expedition to 
Bennington, 70; falls back after 
the defeat of Baum, 87; its losses, 
88 ; crosses the Hudson, 102 ; order 
of march from Saratoga to Bemis' 
Heights, 105 ; slow advance, 105 ; 
gives battle to Gates, 106; troops 
in action, 107; on the defensive, 
116; on short rations, 117; inactiv- 
ity of, 117; ordered to fight Gates 
again, 118; troops selected, 119; 
meets defeat, 121; camp assaulted 
and turned, 122 ; forms new line, 
124; retreats, 127; soldiers dispir- 
ited, 129; reaches Saratoga, 129; 
makes a last stand, 130; its camps, 
130; compelled to surrender, 133; 
numbers at this time, 138. 

Burgoyne's Campaign discussed, 10- 
14; demand for re-enforcements, 
II ; deficiency of transportation 
service, 12 ; cause of failure, 13 ; 
plan of, 26-32 ; results in surrender, 
133 ; effect of it in Europe, espe- 
cially in France, 140; effect at 
home, 141 ; said to have failed 
through blundering in the War 
Office, 142. 

Burgoyne, John ; his personal traits, 
9 ; his plan of campaign, 26 et seq.; 
his army, 33 ; his proclamation, 38; 
aims to cut off St. Clair from 
Schuyler, 45; takes Skenesbor- 
ough, 51 ; followes up his successes, 
52 ; resume of his campaign thus 
far, 52 ; sends Riedesel to Castle- 
ton, 61 ; chooses the Fort Anne 
route to Albany, 61 ; his reasons, 
62 ; march obstructed, 65 : reaches 



143 



144 



INDEX. 



Fort Edward, 66; plans how to 
provide for his army, 68; desire to 
strike New England, 68 : orders the 
expedition to Bennington, 70 ; how 
composed, 70 ; combinations over- 
thrown by Bauni's defeat, 87; his 
losses up to this time, 88; his In- 
dians desert him, 88; compelled to 
halt again, 90; hears of St. Leger's 
retreat, 93 ; his choice of evils, loi ; 
decides to cross the Hudson, 102 ; 
marches in searcli of Gates, 105; 
order of march, 105 ; gives battle, 
106 et seq.; troops in action, 107; 
holds his position, but makes no 
advance ; brings on another battle, 
118, ijg; calls his three best gen- 
erals to his aid, and commands in 
person, 119; is defeated, and driven 
into his works, 121; orders a re- 
treat, 127 ; finds a force confronting 
him on the east bank of the Hud- 
son, 128 ; loses valuable time, 128; 
burns his baggage, 129; arrives at 
Saratoga, 129 ; finds retreat cut off, 
131 ; his camp untenable, 132 ; sur- 
renders his army, 133 ; scene de- 
scribed by eyewitnesses, 135, 13S. 

Canada's alliance desired, 15; inva- 
sion of begun, 19; attitude toward 
the colonies, 25, iiote. 

Carleton, Guy ; attitude toward Bur- 
goyne, 11, 12 ; gains a naval victory 
over Arnold, 22, 25. 

Castleton, Vt. ; Kiedesel posted 
there by Burgoyne, 61. 

Chamblv, Fort; position of, 16; 
taken by Americans, 19; burnt, 20. 

Clinton, Sir Henry, notifies Bur- 
goyne that he is coming to his 
relief, 116; thinks he is only to 
make a diversion, 117; 122, note; 
is near Albany when Burgoyne sur- 
renders, 133 ; 134, note. 

Crown Point, position of, 16; when 
built, 18, w^i*^ ; Americans fall back 
to, 20; evacuated, 20; naval battle 
near, 22. 

Diamond Island, unsuccessful attack 

upon, 114. 
Di'er's House, Frazer's corps at, 68; 

British army posted at, 70, 87. 

Fellow's, John, commands a detach- 
ment to watch Burgoyne, 134. 
FiSHKiLL Creek, 12 j; \i\,tiote. 



Fort Anne, N. Y. ; Americans retreat 
to, from Skenesborough, 51 ; Schuy- 
ler re-enforces them, 5^ : combat at, 
52; burnt and abandoned, 52; de- 
scribed, 55, note; importance to 
Burgoyne, 62 ; neighborhood de- 
scribed, 62, 63. 

Fort, Edward, position of, 16 ; Schuy- 
ler at, 51 ; is joined by St. Clair, 
after Ticonderoga falls, 51 ; Bur- 
goyne arrives at, 66 ; Schuyler evac- 
uates it, 66 ; described, 66, note. 

Fort George, position of, 16 ; Amer- 
icans evacuate it, 66; and British 
occupy it, 66. 

Fort Oswego, position of, 30. 

Fort Stanwix, position of, 30 ; St. 
Leger's force, 35; garrisoned and 
defended, 90, 91 ; attempt to relieve 
fails, 91 ; garrison makes a sally, 
92 ; siege raised, 93 ; 94, note. 

Francis, Ebenezer, covers retreat 
from Ticonderoga, fights Frazer at 
Hubbardton, but is killed, 51 ; 55, 
7tote. 

Frazer, Simon, commands a corps 
under Burgoyne, 34, 35 ; takes Alt. 
Hope, 40; pursues St. Clair, 46: 
comes up with the Americans at 
Hubbardton, and fights them, 47; 
on the point of defeat is re-en- 
forced, and gains the day, 48 ; 
crosses the Hudson, and takes p.ost 
at Saratoga, 70 ; recrosses the H ud- 
son, 87; IS posted on the right at 
Bemis' Heights, 105 ; his force, 107 ; 
killed, 121 ; 123, note ; buried, 127 ; 
134, 7iote. 

Freeman's Farm, position of, 99; 
100, tiote, 105; first collision at 
(Sept. 19), 106; second battle at, 
120-122. 

Gansevoort, Peter, at Fort Stan- 
wix, 90; sallies out upon besiegers, 
91 ; 94, 7tote. 

Gates, Horatio, takes command of 
the Northern Army, 20 ; his rank, 
25, note ; supersedes Schuyler, 95 ; 
good effect on the army, 97 ; orders 
an advance to Stillwater, 97 ; want 
of confidence in Arnold a drawback 
to success, 98 ; posts the army on 
Bemis' Heights, 98; note, 99; 
sends Morgan to feel the enemy, 
• 106; re-enforces in driblets, 108; 
his camp and army, 115, noies 1 
and 2 ; accepts battle again, 120 ; 



INDEX. 



145 



is victorious, 12 1, 122; dilatory pur- 
suit of the enemy, 131 ; comes up 
with Burgoyne, 131; dispositions 
for attacking, 131; receives Bur- 
goyne's surrender, 133. 

Herkimer, Nicholas, marches to re- 
lieve Fort Stanwix, 91 ; is waylaid 
and defeated, 91, 92 ; dies of his 
wounds, 92 ; 94, 7iote. 

Hessian Mercenaries, 36, note. 

Howe, Sir William, participation in 
the campaign discussed, 14 ; driven 
from Boston, 29; George III. dis- 
appointed in him, 29 ; gets his 
orders too late, 31. 

HuBBARDTON, Vt. , garrisou of Ticon- 
deroga retreats to, 44 ; St. Clair's 
rearguard overtaken at, 47 ; battle 
of, 47. 48, 49- 

Johnson, Sir John, at Oriskany, 91 ; 
94, note. 

Kosciusko, Thaddeus, marks out the 
lines on Bemis' Heights, 98 ; 100, 
7iote. 

Lake Champlain, the gateway of the 
north, 16; naval battle on, 22, 
Burgoyne's advance, 35 ; shores of, 
37 ; Americans driven from, 51. 

Lincoln, Benjamin, sent to Manches- 
ter, 74 ; sketch of, 76, note ; makes 
a raid in Burgoyne's rear, 1 13 ; joins 
Gates, 115, wounded, 128 

Lyman, Phineas, builds Fort Edward, 
66. 

Manchester, Vt , Warner posted at, 
57 ; rendezvous for militia, 73 , 
Lincoln and Stark at, 74 

Mohawk Valley, plan for invading 
It, 30, 35 

Montgomery, Richard, leads an army 
to Canada, 19, killed, 20; sketch 
of, 25, note 

Morgan's Riflemen, 99, note ; attack 
Burgoyne, 106; part in the battle 
of October 7, 120, 121. 

Mount Independence described, 16; 
named, 21 ; Americans retreat from 
Ticonderoga to, 44. 

Mount Defiance, the key of Ticon- 
deroga, 43 , seized by Burgoyne's 
engineers, 43 ; compels the evacua- 
tion of Ticonderoga, 43 ; retaken 
by the Americans, 114; 115, note. 



Newport, R. I., held by the enemy, 
30 ; Howe's strategy, 60, note. 

New York, plans for its invasion, 26, 
29, 30 ; resources of for resisting 
Burgoyne, 58, 59. 

Oriskany, N. Y. , Americans march- 
ing to Fort Stanwix are defeated at, 
- 91. 

Phillips, William, commands Bur- 
goyne's artillery, 34 ; brings up 
artillery at Bemis' Heights, iii, 

Riedesel, Baron von, commands Bur- 
goyne's German contingent, 34; 
at Ticonderoga, 40 ; pursues the 
retreating Americans, 46 ; turns de- 
feat to victory at Hubbardton, 48; 
is posted at Castleton, Vt. , 61 ; falls 
back to Fort Edward, 86; supports 
Burgoyne at Bemis' Heights, iii. 

Saratoga, occupied by Burgoyne, 70; 
country below described, 98 ; Bur- 
goyne's army crosses over to, 102 ; 
falls back to, after being defeated, 
129 ; 134, note. 

St. Clair, Arthur, commands at Ti- 
conderoga, 39 ; evacuates it, 43 ; 
military record of, 44, note 2 ; also 
note 5 ; marches for Skenesbor- 
ough, 45 ; halts at Hubbardton, 46; 
hears Burgoyne has occupied his 
proposed line of retreat, and now 
marches for Benninsiton, 51 ; joins 
Schuyler at Fort Edward, 51 ; ac- 
cused of treachery, 58 ; and ordered 
to Philadelphia, 60. 

St. John's, Fort, position of, 16; 
taken by Americans, 19 ; burnt, 20; 
British build a fleet at, 21. 

St. Leger, Barry, combination with 
Burgoyne, 13 ; his part, 30, 31 ; his 
force, 35, 90; lays siege to Fort 
Stanwix, 91 ; Arnold's stratagem 
compels him to raise the siege, 93 ; 
and retreat to Oswego, 93. 

Schuyler, Philip, at Fort Edward, 
51; St. Clair joins him, 51; sends 
a force to Fort Anne, 52 ; military 
record of, 55, note ; holds Warner 
at Manchester, 57; evacuates Fort 
Edward on Burgoyne's approach, 
66 ; state of his army, 66 ; urges 
Stark to join him, 77 ; sends Ganse- 
voort to Fort Stanwix, 90 ; then 
Arnold, 93 ; superseded by Gates, 95. 



146 



INDEX. 



Second Battle of Freeman's Farm, 
120-122. 

Skenesbokough taken by Americans, 
17; described, 18, note; made a 
dockyard, 21; Americans retreat 
to, from Ticonderoga, 44 ; set fire 
to, and abandoned, 51. 

Stark, John, appointed to sole com- 
• mand over New Hampshire militia, 
74 ; musters his brigade at Man- 
chester, 74; refuses to join Schuy- 
ler, 74; his perplexity, 75; marches 
to Bennington, 75 ; sketch of, 76, 
note ; decides to join Schuyler, 77 ; 
but hears of the enemy's approach, 
and sends out scouts, 77 ; sends for 
Warner, 78 ; rc-enforced, 81 ; his 
force, 82 ; gains the victory of Ben- 
nington, 83 ; and defeats Breyman 
also, 84, 85 ; at Fort Edward, 132. 

Stillwater, position of the American 
army described, 98. 

Ticonderoga, position of described, 
16; taken by Americans, 17; 18, 
note; Montgomery there, 19; Bur- 
goyne's landing, 39; garrison of, 
40; invested by Burgoyne, 40, 43; 



. evacuated, 44; effects of its fall, 
56, 57 ; Americans attack it unsuc- 
cessfully, 114. 
Trenton, N. J., victory at, 32, tioie. 

Valcour Island, naval battle at, 22. 

Vermont, people of addressed by Bur- 
goyne, 38 ; state of settlements in, 
44, note; critical situation of after 
the fall of Ticonderoga, 5 7. 

Warner, Seth, in command at Hub- 
bardton, 47; 55, note; surprised 
there, 48; retreats to Bennington, 
51; posted at Manchester, 57; his 
Green Mountain Boys, 57; Stark 
calls on him for assistance, 77 ; gets 
to Bennington in time, 81 ; attacks 
Breyman, §4. 

Washington, George, sets about re- 
trieving the disaster at Ticonderoga, 
60; his views how to retard Bur- 
goyne's march, 73 ; sends Lincoln 
to carry them out, 74 ; his policy 
vindicated, 85 ; efforts to strengthen 
the northern army, 95, 96 ; consid- 
erate treatment of Schuyler, 96. 




Y SUCCESS pm t READING 



IN INTRODUCING ••• \Ji^^^ IN A COUNTRY SCHOOL 



" There are country children who attend school twenty-four weeks in a 
year, read from dry, worn-out reading books, and have parents at home 
with minds perfectly barren except for thoughts about getting a living. 
These children spend the lonely, quiet evenings, which might be made so 
full of glad opportunity, in perfect idleness and apathy, their only pleas- 
ure being in the gratification of appetite. There is just one reason why 
these must grow into carnally minded, ignorant, narrow men and women. 
No one furnishes them with reading at home." — Lend a Hand. 

With this for my text, let me tell the story of one school in Wisconsin. 

One day last Spring, a Miss Campbell, from Station, (in the town 

of ), was sent to me by one of the Madison teachers, to ask my 

advice in regard to supplementary reading in her school. She told me 
that her scholars had lost all interest in their Thursday afternoon exer- 
cises, reading, speaking pieces, etc., because they had only old reading 
books from which they had read and spoken, till they knew the greater 
part of them by heart. She thought, that if she could introduce some 
really interesting book, it would improve the work, and also help in form- 
ing a taste for good reading. After looking over various books suited for 
such a purpose, she selected " Young Folks' Robinson Crusoe " saying, 
"The children are not up to anything more than a story, yet. I'll take 
this as my first step. If they work well with this, we can go on to some- 
thing higher." This "Robinson Crusoe" was written by Mrs. Eliza 
Farrar, wife of Prof John Farrar, of Harvard College, and was first pub- 
lished more than fifty years ago. In Mrs. Farrar's " Address to Parents " 
which prefaces the book, she says, *' The Author thinks, with Rousseau, 
that Robinson Crusoe might be made a great instrument in the education 

From Wisconsin Journal of Edticatio7i for A'ovember, i 



Good Reading. 



ti' 



of children, leading their minds to philosophical investigation or m-n's 
social nature, and introducing them to trains of thought which no other 
story can so well suggest." The present edition is edited by William T. 
Adams (Oliver Coptic), who says, " It is the only Robinson Crusoe read 
by the editor, till within a few years, and was the standard edition in use 
by those in this vicinity (Boston) who read children's books half a cen- 
tury ago." Six of Miss Campbell's pupils decided to buy this book, one 
boy buying it with his own earnings, he was so anxious to own it. 
These, with the copy which I lent her, sufficed for class use. The chil- 
dren were enthusiastic, the reading class was rejuvenated, and the prog- 
ress in good reading was in proportion to the enthusiasm. 

I also lent Miss Campbell the Chapters on Ants in " Nature Readers," 
the most satisfactory books for instructing children in Natural History 
with which I have ever met. She used this book for a time for drawing 
exercises. She had each child bring an ant as an illustration to the text, 
and after getting them intensely interested in finding out from the real 
creatures what is told of them in the book, she led them to observe the 
homes of the ants and their mode of work, opening their eyes to the 
wonders which one meets, even in the daily prosaic walk to school. 

I lent her also "The Seven Little Sisters Who Live on the Round 
Ball that Floats in the Air" (published by Lee & Shepard), which de- 
scribes the child life of seven different races. This book was first pub- 
lished in 1861, and has since been through edition after edition, its value 
being so generally acknowledged. The superintendent of schools in 
Janesville, Mr. C. H. Keyes, spoke of it in an educational meeting at 
Madison, as the first book which aroused his intellectual life, and he has 
since told me that there are nearly twelve hundred children in Janesville, 
Wisconsin, who can almost say it by heart. A teacher of seventeen years 
record once told me that one class in geography baffled her best efforts 
till she threw aside all the so-called text-books, and used only " '^ le 



Good Reading. 

Seven Little Sisters " as a manual. From that time the class became 
successful and enthusiastic. This book is used as supplementary read- 
ing in the schools of Boston, Mass., and also in very many other schools 
throughout the country. I give the account of these books rather 
minutely, that it may be clearly seen what class of literature Miss Camp- 
bell attempted to introduce to the future men and women of Wisconsin. 

Miss Campbell's record with "The Seven Little Sisters" is that she 
read it to the children ai such times as she could secure, without neglect- 
ing their regular school work. The children enjoyed the book so much 
that some of them begged her to keep on after school hours. She had 
the scholars point out on a map the countries where the children of the 
stories lived, the home of Agoonack in the frozen north, and where 
Louise lived by the beautiful river Rhine, and she talked with them of 
the mode of life of the inhabitants of those countries. 

Now to offset all this, here let me give the record of the district. In 
July they held a school meeting, at which one of the leading men, the 
heaviest taxpayer in the town, arose and said he should like to know why 
he was to pay his money to a teacher who brought ^' pismires^'' into 
school, and taught the children about them, and who introduced "the 
NOVEL." Several others, eager to follow their leader, echoed his senti- 
ments. As a result that school has a new teacher this term, and the 
children's winter evenings, which might have been brightened by the 
enjoyment of new books and the fresher and broader outlook which they 
bring, are now left to plod along in the same old, dull way. But let us 
hope that the seed already sown will not prove fruitless, and that a few 
boys and girls at least are awakened to the pleasure and value of good 
reading. 

Madison, Wis. Mrs. William F. Allen. 



-THE BEST TEACHER IN 7 HE WORLD," 
James Parton, Historian, says of the author of the new book, 

WHO LIVED ON THE ROAD FROM LONG AGO TO NOW, 

By Jane Andrews, author of "Seven Little Sisters," "Seven Little 
Sisters show their Sisterhood," Geographical Plays, etc. Cloth. With 
20 original illustrations. 80 cents net ; if sent by mail, 90 cents. 
Introducing the stories of — 

Kablu, the Aryan Boy, who came down to the plains of the Indus. 

Darius, the Persian Boy, who knew about Zoroaster. 

Cleon, the Greek Boy, who ran at the Olympic Games. 

Horatius, the Roman Boy, whose ancestor kept the bridge so well. 

Wulf, the Saxon Boy, who helped to make England. 

Gilbert, the Page, who will one day become a Knight. 

Roger, the English Lad, who longed to sail the Spanish Main. 

Ezekiel Fuller, the Puritan Boy. 

Jonathan Dawson, the Yankee Boy. 

Frank Wilson, the Boy of 1S85. 

And giving entertaining and valuable information upon the manners 
and customs of the different nations from Aryan age to now. 

The poet, John G. Whittier, says of it: — 

Amesbury, nth mo. 22, 1885. 
Lee and Shepard, Boston: 

I have been reading the new book by Jane Andrews, "Ten Boys who Lived 

on the Road from Long Ago to Now," which you have just published, and canno* 

forbear saying that in all my acquaintance with juvenile literature I know of nothing 

in many respects equal to this remarkable book, which contains in its small compass 

the concentrated knowledge of vast libraries. It is the admirably told story of past 

centuries of the world's progress, and the amount of study and labor required in 

its preparation seems almost appalling to contemplate. One is struck with the 

peculiar excellence of its style, — clear, easy, graceful, and picturesque, — which a 

child cannot fail to comprehend, and in which "children of a larger growth " will 

find an irresistible charm. That it will prove a favorite with old and young I 

nave no doubt. It seems to me that nothing could be more enjoyable to the boy 

oi our period than the story of how th*», boys of all ages lived and acted. 

Yours truly, 

JOHN G. WHITTIER. 



f\/iiSS JANE ANDRENA/S' OTHER BOOKS. 



THE SEVEN LITTLE SISTERS 

WHO LIVE ON THE ROUND BALL THAT FLOATS IN THE AIR. 

From The NcM England Journal cf Education. 

I wish to bear testimony, unasked, to the peculiar value for teachers of a little 
book which lies rather out of the line of text-books, and which may, therefore, 
•scape their notice. It is called " The Seven Little Sisters who Live on the Round 
Ball that Floats in the Air." The round ball is, of course, the earth, and the little 
sisters represent different nations and races of men. I think that the mere reading 
of this book — read over and over, as children always read a book they like — will 
give to the young readers a more vivid impression of the shape of the earth, of 
the distributiun of nations over it, and of the essential brothernood of man, than 
the study of most text-books. I understand that it has been largely used by IMiss 
Garland and Miss Weston, of the Boston Kindergarten; and I should think that 
it would be invaluable not merely for such schools, but for all primary schools. It 
is very common for teachers to read aloud to their pupils some story-book at their 
closing session of the week; and " The Seven Little Sisters " is a story-book, and a 
book of real intellectual value at the same time. T. W. HIGGINSON. 

Cloth, gilt, $1.00. S«:huol £dition, plain cloth, 50 cts. net. By mail, 55 cts. 

PART II. 

The Seven Little Sisters Prove their Sisterhood. 

The author, in order to show the children of her own school how other children 
live in various parts of the world, selects seven little girls of different nationalities, 
and describes their homes, the character of their parents, and the manners and cus- 
toms of their people. The stories are related in a style that will please young 
folks, and will be found quite interesting to all. The book is handsomely bound, 
and is prettily illustraied, and shuuld have a ready holiday sale. — N. E. Journal 
of Education. 

16mo, cloth, gilt, $1.00. School Edition, 50 cts. net. By mail, 55 cts. 



Messrs. Lee and Shepard, — I have carefully read "The Seven Little 
Sisters," by Jane Andrews. It is one of the purest and best books for 
children I have ever seen. In fact, it is the best book of its kind, known 
to me. My comments are, blessings on the memory of Jane Andrews. 
My little daughter Maud, nine years old, exclaimed, shortly after beginning 
to read it: "O Mamma, I have begun about the little brown baby and it 
is just lovely." She became so interested that she has read the whole Look 
within two or three days. 

I shall most gladly recommend this book to my fellow teachers while 
holding Institutes. 

Please send to m,e at sucli price as you can afford, for examination, 
"Jane Andrews' Ten Boys that Lived from Long Ago until Now." 

Yours sincerely, A. E. Haynes. 



T 



HE STORIES V UATURE TOLD *** 

— ^ MOTHER N * HER CHILDREN 

Library Edition, cloth, illustrated, $1.00. School Edition. 50 cents net; by mail, 55 cents. 
** Another very entertaining and instructive addition to literature for young readeis- 
Mother Nature is very dear to us all, and we are constantly reading arid profiting 
by the stories she tells and the lessons she teaches. In the little book before us, the 
writer groups in familiar language, some of the stories which Mother Nature tells 
about the Amber Beads, and their original home at the bottom of the sea; about 
the evolution of the dragon fly. The trees that stand in the village streets are 
made to talk pleasantly about themselves — a species of egotism that will readily 
be pardoned. 'How Indian Corn Grows' is interestingly told, and something 
about the Water Lilies. The Carrying Trade and the many beneficial things it 
brings to us from far away countries form the subject of one chapter; there are 
several nice stories of Sea Life, including something about coral and the star fish; 
the Frost Giants and the queer pranks they cut up ; the children are given a peep 
into one of God's storehouses, a coal mine ; there's a pretty story too about Sixty- 
two Little Tadpoles ; and there are other things touching animal and vegetable 
life. All these stories are told in language that children can easily understand. 
The aim of the writer is to fasten on the minds of her young readers impressions 
that will be lasting — to give them an insight into the beauties and mysterious pro- 
cesses of nature and incite them to a reverent interest in and a truer appreciation 
of all these things. The child who reads the book will be elevated by it." — St. 
Albans Messenger. 

" This charming little volume contains a series of short sketches that are intended 
to teach the young in an entertaining way some of the wonderful things of nature, 
and at the same time to lead their thoughts into a study of them. Thus ' The 
Story of the Amber Beads' shows us how the beautiful yellow gum oozing from the 
pines of the Scotch highlands became the pretty amber beads we all know and 
admire ; and so we are told of the trees and fiowers, the fish and the insect, and of 
one of God's storehouses, the wonderful coal mines. One would look far before 
..^ would find a work so well calculated to engage the thoughtful attention of 
young minds." — Salem Observer. 



GEOGRAPHICAL PLAYS 

Comprising United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, Australia and the 
Islands, the Commerce of the World. 

In one volume, cloth, $1.00, or in paper covers, six pai-ts, 16 cents each. 

These able, suggestive, and interesting plays are designed as a sort of review 
of each country or topic, and they present a comprehensive view of the subject as 
a unit. They are used after a country has been faithfully studied from the geog- 
raphy, and when the pupil has become familiar with all names given in the play. 
It need scarcely be said that the jilays are well written, and are calculated to pro- 
duce an animating effect upon a scJiool. They are used in Boston Primary Schools 
for Supplementary Reading. 

Any of these Books sent by Mail upon Receipt of price. 

LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston. 



QNLY jJAR ANo I " 



HAT \T * * * 

* BROUGHT 



By JAISE ANDR.E'WS 

Author of " Seven Little Sisters who Live on the Round Ball that Floats in 
the Air," "Seven Little Sisters Prove their Sisterhood" (sequel to 
" Seven Little Sisters"), " Ten Boys who Lived on the Road from Long 
Ago to Now," " Geographical Plays for Young Folks at School and at 
Home," comprising Europe, United Stales, Asia, Africa and South 
America, Australia and the Isles of the Sea, the Commerce of the World, 
etc. 

CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. $L00. 

"This story illustrates the change wrought into the life of a tall, awkward, 
and selfish girl in a year's time. The change is so gradual that at first it is 
almost imperceptible, but is entirely natural and true to life. Miss Andrews 
has written a number of children's books, and understands how to portray the 
best side of her youthful heroes and heroines without seeming to hold them up 
as examples to her readers. In her account of the trials and improvements of 
the young girl in her story, she has endeavored to show her weaknesses of 
character without moralizing. She is thoroughly wide awake to all the enjoy- 
ments of girls whom she writes about, and the interesting way in which she 
helps them out of their various diflSculties is entertaining." — Concord States- 
ma, I. 

" Among the writers of juvenile tales there are few held in higher esteem by 
their young readers than Jane Andrews; and the pretty volume recently 
issued that bears her name, deserves to be held in as great favor as " Seven 
Little Sisters," or any other of the author's previous productions. It te.-xches 
an excellent moral, but it is never dry or preachy, and its representations 
of school life are accurate and entertaining. It will prove most acceptable 
to girls who have in a measure put away childish things, yet have not 
passed the line where th« brook and river meet." — Bitjffalo CotJiinercial 
Advertiser. 

" The unequalled genius for entertaining and instructing children which 
distinguished Jane Andrews, finds expression also in her books. This one is 
probably the last that we shall have from her pen, and her recent death gives 
it a peculiar interest. The simple incidents are made the vehicle of much 
lively conversation and description. Young people will read the book with 
genuine interest and pleasure." — Womaji's Journal. 



Sold by all booksellers, and sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price 
Catalogues free upon application. 

LEE AND SHEPARO Publishers Boston 



rNGLISH AS IT SHOULD 



BE WRITTEN 



Handbooks for 

All Lovers of 

Correct 

Language 



Neatly bound in cloth 50 cents each 



MISTAKES IN WRITING ENGLISH AND HOW TO AVOID THEM 

For the use of all who teach, write, or speak the language. By M '.rshall 
T. PiiGELOW, author of " Punctuation and other Typographical 
Matters." 

PUNCTUATION AND OTHER TYHOCRAPHICAL MATTERS 

For the use of Printers, Au'^^hors, Teachers, and Scholars. I'y Marshall 
T. BicKLOW, Corrector at the University Press, Cambridge. 

1000 BLUNDERS IN ENGLISH 

A Handbook of Suggestions in Reading and Speaking. By Harlan H, 
Ballaki), A.m., Principal of Lenox Academy, Lenox, Mass. 

HINTS AND HELPS 

For those who write, print, or read. By Benjamin Drew. 

ENGLISH SYNONYMES DISCRIMINATED 

By Rev. Richard Whatei.y, D.D., the Archbishop of Dublin. A new 
edition. 

SOULE & CAMPBELL'S PRONOUNCING HANDBOOK 

Of Words often mispronounced, and of words as to which a Choice of Pro- 
nunciation is allowed. 3,000 .Mistakes in Pronunciation corrected. 

CAMPBELL'S HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH SYNONYMES 

With an Appendix showing the Correct Uses of Prepositions. 

HINTS ON LANGUAGE 

In connection with Sight Reading and Writing in Primary and Intermediate 
Schools. By S. Arthur Bent, A.M.. Superintendent o( Public 
Schools, Clinton, Ma?.s. 

FORGOTTEN MEANINGS 

Or, An Hour with the Dictionary. By Alfred Waites author of 
" Student's Historical Manual." 

SHORT STUDIES OF AMERICAN AUTHORS 

By Thomas Wentworth Higc;inson, author of " Young Folks' History 
of the United States," " Young Folks' American Explorers," 
" Malbone," "Outdoor Papers," " Oldport Days," " Army Life m a 
Black Regiment," " Atlantic Essays," etc. 

HINTS ON WRITING AND SPEECH-MAKING 

I'y Thomas Wentworth Higginson. 

UNIVERSAL PHONOGRAPHY 

Or, Shorthand by the " Allen Method." P Self-instructor, wh'sreby more 
Speed than Long-Hand Writing is gained at the First Lesson, and 
additional Speed at each Subsequent Lesson By G. G. Allen. 
Principal of the Allen Stenographic Institute, Boston. 

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LEE AND SHEPARD P'iblishers Boston 
IS 



y OUNG F OLKS' r 

B QQK^ OF Travel 

DRIFTING ROUND THE WORLD; A Boy's Adventures by 
Sea and Land 

By Capt. Charles W. Halt,, author of " Adrift in the Ice-Fields," " The 
Great Bonanza," etc. With numerous full-page and letter-press illustra- 
tions. Royal 8vo. Handsome cover. $1.75. Cloth, gilt, $2.50. 
"Out of the beaten track" in its course of travel, record of adventures, 
and descriptions of life in Greenland, Labrador, Ireland, Scotland, England, 
Fr.nnce, Holland, Russia, Asia, Siberia, and Alaska. Its hero is young, bold, 
and adventurous; and the book is in every w.iy interesting and attractive, 

EDWARD GREEY'S JAPANESE SERIES 
YOUNG AMERICANS IN JAPAN; or. The Adventures of ths 

Jewett Family and their Friend Oto Nambo 
With T70 full-page and letter-press illustrations. Royal 8vo, 7 x 95 inches. 
Handsomely illuminated cover. $1.75- Cloth, black and gold, $2.50. 
This story, though essentially a work of fiction, is filled with interesting and 
truthful descriptions of the curious ways of living of the good people of the 
land of the rising sun. 

THE WONDERFUL CITY OF TOKIO; or, The Further Ad- 
ventures of the Jewett Family and their Friend Oto Nambo 
With 169 illustrations. Royal 8vo, 7x95 inches. With cover in gold and 

colors, designed by the author. $i-75. Cloth, black and gold, $2.50. 

" A book full of delightful information. The author has the happy gift of 
permitting the reader to view things as he saw them. The illustrations are 
mostly drawn by a Japanese artist, and are very unique." — Chicago Herald. 

THE BEAR WORSHIPPERS OF YEZO AND THE ISLAND 
OF KARAFUTO ; being the further Adventures of the 
Jewett Family and their Friend Oto Nambo 

180 illustrations. Boards, $1.75. Cloth, $2.50 

Graphic pen and pencil pictures of the remarkable bearded people who live 
in the north of Japan, The illustrations are by native Japanese artists, and 
give queer pictures of a queer jjeople, who have been seldom visited. 

HARRY W. FRENCHES BOOKS 
OUR BOYS IN INDIA 

The wanderings of two young Americans in Hindustan, with their exciting 

adventures on the sacred rivers and wild mountains. With 145 illustrations. 

Royal 8vo, 7 x 9 j inches. Bound in emblematic covers of Oriental design, 

$1.75. Cloth, black and gold, $2 50. 

While it has all the exciting interest of a romance, it is remarkably vivid in 
its pictures of manners and customs in the land of the Hindu, The illustra- 
tions are many and excellent. 

OUR BOYS IN CHINA 

The adventures of two young Americans, wrecked in the China Sea on their 

return from India, with their strange wanderings through the Chinese 

Empire 188 illustrations. Boards, ornamental covers in colors and gold, 

$1.75. Cloth, $2 50. 

This gives the further adventures of" Our Boys" of India fame in the land 
of Teas and Queues. 

Sold by all booksellers, and sent by mail, postnaid, on receipt of price 

LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston 



P EAD1N6S 



FOR HOME HALL 

AND SCHOOL 

Prepared by Professor LEWIS B. MONROE 



Founder of the Boston School of Oratory 



HUMOROUS READINGS In prose and verse For the use of schools 
reading-clubs public and parlor entertainments $1.50 Boards 60 cents net 
"The book is readable from the first page to the last, and every article 

contained in it is worth more than the price or the volume." — Providence 

Herald. 

MISCELLANEOUS READINGS In prose and verse $1.50 Boards 
60 cents net 

" We trust this book maj' find its way into many schools, not to be used as 
a book for daily drill, but as affording the pupil occasionally an opportunity 
of leaving the old bjatjn track." — Rhode-Island Schoolmaster. 

DIALOGUES AND DRAMAS For the use of dramatic and reading 
clubs and for public social and school entertainments ;^i.5o Boards 60 
cents net 

" If the acting of dramas such as are contained in this book could be intro- 
duced into private circles, there would be an inducement for the young to 
spend their evenings at home, instead of resorting to questionable public 
places. " — Nashua Gazette. 

YOUNG FOLKS' READINGS For social and public entertainment 
#1.50 Boards 60 cents net 

" Professor Monroe is one of the most successful teachers of elocution, as 
well as a very popular public reader In this volume he has given an unusu- 
ally fine selection for home and social reading, as well as for public entertain- 
ments." — Boston Home Journal. 



DIALOGUES FROM DICKENS Arranged for schools and home 
amu'^ement By W. Eliot Fette A.M. First series $1.00 

LIALOGUES AND DRAMAS FROM DICKENS Second series 

Arranged by W. Eliot Fette Illustrated $1.00 

The dialogues in the above books are selected from the best points of the. 
stories, and can be extended by taking several scenes together. 

THE GRAND DICKENS COSMORAMA Comprising several unique 
entertainments capable of being used separately for school home or hall 
By G. B. Bartlett Paper 25 cents 

THE READINGS OF DICKENS as condensed by himse f for his own 
use $1.00 

LITTLE PIECES FOR LITTLE SPEAKERS The primary- 
school teacher's assistant By a practical teacher i6mo. Illustrated 
Cloth 75 cents Also in boards 50 cents 

THE MODEL SUNDAY-SCHOOL SPEAKER Containing selec- 
tions in prose and verse from the most popular pieces and dialogues for 
Sunday-school exhibitions Illustrated Cloth 75 cents Boards 50 cent* 

■' A book very much needed." 



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LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston 
1^ 



L JI8TOR1CAL ROOKS ♦ * « * 
. * * * FOR yOUNG PEOPLE 



Young Fol ks' Hi story of the United States 

By Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Illustrated. $1.50. 

The story of our country in the most reliable and interesting form. As a 
story-book it easily leads all other American history stories in interest, while as 
a text-book for the study of history it is universally admitted to be the best. 

Young Folks' Book of American Explorers 

By Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Uniform with the " Young Folks' 
History of the United States." One volume, fully illustrated. Price $1.50. 
" It is not a history told in the third person, nor an historical novel for young 
folks, where the author supposes the chief characters to have thought and said 
such and such things under such and such circumstances; but it is the genuine 
description given by the persons who experienced the things they described in 
letters written home." — Mojitpelier yournal. 

The Nation in a Nutshell 

By George Makepeace Towle, author of " Heroes of History," " Young 
Folks' History of England," " Young I'olks' History of Ireland," etc. 
Price 50 cents. 

" To tell the story of a nation like ours in a nutshell, requires a peculiar 
faculty for selecting, condensing, and philosophizing. The brevity with which 
he relates the principal events In American history, does not detract from the 
charming interest of the narrative style." — Fitblic OpiJiion. 

Young People's History of England 

By George Makepeace Towle. Cloth, illustrated. $1.50. 

" The whole narrative is made interesting and attractive — in every way 
what a book of this kind should be in its clearness of statement, freshness of 
style, and its telling of the right ways." — Critic. 

Ha ndbook of E ngl ish History 

Based on " Lectures on English History," by the late M. J. Guest, and 
brought down to the year 1880. With a Supplementary Chapter on the 
English Literature of the 19th Century. By F. H. Underwood, LL.D. 
With Maps, Chronological Table, etc. $1-50. 
" It approaches nearer perfection than anything in the line we have seen. 

It is succmct, accurate, and delightful." — Hartford Evening Post. 

Youn g People's History of Ira Ia n d 

By George Makepeace Towle, author of " Young People's History of 

England," " Young Folks' Heroes of History," etc. With an introduction 

by John Boyle O'Reilly, Cloth, illustrated. $1.50^ 

" The history is like a novel, increasing in interest to the very end, and 

terminating at the most interesting period of the whole; and the reader lays 

down the book a moment in enthusiastic admiration for a people who have 

endured so much, and yet have retained so many admirable characteristics." — 

J\r.V. IVorld. 



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LEE AND SHEPAKD Publishers Boston 
6 






JANE ANDREWS' BOOKS 

THE SEVEN I.ITTL,E SISTERS WHO 
LIVK ON THE KOUISD BALL THAT 
FLOATS IN THE AIK New Edition 
Avith an introduction by JNIrs. I^ouisa Par- 
sons Hopkins School Edition cloth 50 cts 

THE SEVENLITTLE SISTEKSFKOA E 
THEIR SISTKRHOOD OR EACH 
AND AliTj School Edition cloth 50 cents 

TEV HOYS WHO LIVED ON THE 
ROAD FROM LONG AGO TO NOW 
2 I Illustrations cloth 8 > cents 

THE STORle:s MOTHER N4TURE 
TOLD HKR CHILDREN School Edi 
tion 50 cents 

GEOGRAPHIC \L PLAYS For Young 
Folks at School and at Home Price each 
pai)er 15 cents 1. United St-^tes 2. Europe 
3. Asia 4. Africa and South America 5. 
Australia and the Isles of the Sea 6. The 
Commerce of the World The above in one 
volume cloth 80 cents 



GRAD 5D SUPPLEMENTARY READ- 
ING By Prof. Tweed late Supervisor of 
Boston Public Schools 12 Parts ready. Nos. 
1, 4, 7, and 10, 1st Year Primary. Kos. 2, 5, 
8, and 11, 2d Year Primary. Nos. 3, 6, J>, 
and 12, 3d Year Primary. In paper covers 
4 cents each. By mail 5 cents The 4 parts 
for each year bouud together iu boards 20 
cents each year 

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE 
UNITED STATES By Thomas Went- 
•\vorth Higginson With over lou lllustra- 
ti(uis$1.2i» 

T<»UNG FOLKS' BOOK OF AMERI- 
CAN' FXPLOREKS Bv Thomas Went- 
worth Higginson Illustrated cloth $1.20 

HANOBOOK OF ENGLISH HISTORY 
Based on " Lectures on English History" 
By the late M. J Guest and brought down 
to tlie year IS-O By V. H. Underwood 
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YoUN<; PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF IRE- 
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STOHYOF OUR COUNTRY By Mrs. L. 
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THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER 
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BUHGOYNE'S INVASION OF 1777 
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HEROES OF HISTORY By George 
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Pictures and Stories of 

6 ■VOXjTJDS^ES. 

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Miss West's Class in Geog aphy By Miss 
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Child's Book of Health By Dr. Blaisdell 

NatU'Rl History P^ays By Louisa Parsons 
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Rob nson Crusoe Arranged for Schools by 
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Arabian Mights' Eater*ainments (Sel ctions) 
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Stories fr^m Ameritan History By N. S. 
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Noble Deeds cf onr PathTS as told by Soldiers 
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The Boston Tea-Party and oth r •'■ tor ef of the 
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The Flower Peop'e (Child's Talk with the 
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Lessons on Manners By ]\Iiss AViygin 

A Kiss for a Blow By Henry Clarke Wriglit 

The Nation in a Nutshell By George Make- 
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Sbnrt Studies of American Authors By T. W. 
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